Trust
by vega2
Summary: Can a human trust an AI? Can an AI trust himself? Michael and Kitt are about to find out.


Knight Rider characters copyright Glen A. Larson  
A Big thank you to Grygh for letting me use Nick and Karr  
A huge thank you to Tomy my Beta Reader who held my hand through this entire story.  
Trust copyright L.Borchers 2001  
  
  
  
  
  
TRUST  
By Vega  
  
  
  
"ETA Kitt?" Michael asked around a huge yawn.  
  
They were on a stretch of road that cut straight through the desert. It was, by far, the fastest route home, but it was also the most monotonous. Miles and miles of broiling desert.  
  
"Four hours and twelve minutes Michael. Enough time for you to get some rest. If you had not stayed out until all hours last night, you would not be so tired today. The human body requires a certain amount of sleep..."  
  
"Yea, yea, yea, I know Kitt. But give me a break huh? We just came off a lousy assignment. I had to blow off steam somehow."  
  
Michael still couldn't believe Devon had handed him the assignment from hell. Stanley Kirk was a wizard at numbers. So good in fact, that he played himself into a hand he couldn't get himself out of. While he was holed up in a casino at a local Indian Reservation, his son Hector became a pawn between Kirk and a syndicate hit man, Trent Newman, who he tried to swindle. At face value, the assignment seemed a piece of cake. Keep the kid safe until Kirk was safe. But all bets were off when Michael met Hector, the kid from hell...  
  
"I must admit, playing bodyguard to a precocious twelve year old boy was more work than I ever expected."  
  
"No kidding. You only had him when he was in the car. I had him twenty-four hours a day. If Newmen hadn't showed himself when he did I was ready to call him up and tell him where the brat was."  
  
"Now, now Michael. It is not his fault that his parents spoiled him rotten. I had some time to go over some parenting literature and... "  
  
"Please Kitt, please, no more."  
  
"Very well, but if the time ever arises again when you need..."  
  
"It won't Kitt. Believe me, it won't. Now, I'm going to take that nap if you don't mind."  
  
"Please, be my guest. I'll wake you when we reach the Foundation."  
  
Michael was about to adjust his seat back when a sudden flash of light engulfed the car. He screamed in agony as the light pierced his eyes like daggers. He felt Kitt react, terror streaming down the neuro link.   
  
For a split second he saw blackness so oppressive that he could barely breath, then he lost consciousness.  
  
Kitt, all his systems shut down, simply rolled to a stop... Lifeless.  
  
  
  
  
Alexander Rehies sat back in his chair and smiled smugly. So far his plan had gone off without a hitch. Michael Knight was recovering well from the procedure, and would be ready to begin the experiment. Kitt, as well, would be ready on time.  
  
It had taken two long years to prepare for this. All from the confines of his cell on Rykers Island; thanks to Devon Miles and his cohorts. First a suitable site had to be found. Something large enough to accommodate his lab, and comfortable enough to satisfy him. He had spent four long years in a six by six foot cell. He needed room to roam. It also had to be somewhere isolated, safe from prying eyes and local authorities.  
  
And this, he thought, as he looked around the room, was made to order. Built in the Cold War days of the 1960's, it was once home to an elite Special Forces units. Here they secretly trained for missions that no one but the upper echelons of government knew about. Abandoned after the Cold War ended it was literally forgotten, by some, but not all.  
  
By chance Rehies hired Harry Brewster, nicknamed Bruce, to coordinate the operation. Once stationed at the facility, he convinced Rehies that this would be the perfect place. Bruce was right. Not only was the building perfect, the surrounding area was just what he needed for his experiment. Open desolate land, visited only by the wildlife, and even they tended to shy away. One hundred and fifteen degrees during the day, some nights bitter cold, others never dipping below the nineties. So, no one saw Bruce bury the shoebox-sized container in the road. Lined with lead, Kitt could not detect the small nuclear device inside. With an explosive charge not much larger than a hand grenade, it's impact was minimal, but the effects were staggering. Knight was instantly rendered unconscious and Kitt's functions were shut down. A helicopter was brought in to the hoist the Trans Am away. No tracks, no evidence, except for a small hole in the ground.   
  
He looked through the glass partition that separated him from K.I.T.T. and smiled. The day he was released from Rykers and walked through the gates to freedom was the day that Michael Knight and Kitt's lives, as they knew it, would be changed forever...  
  
  
  
One minute he was screaming in agony as he felt the pain shooting through Michael's eyes, his systems shutting down, the next he was powering up, slowly. As each function came back on line it was tested and retested automatically. Finally, after what seemed to be an eternity, his sensors came back on line.  
  
He found he was in a huge white sterile room. Banks of monitors lined the walls in front of him. A dozen speakers hung from the ceiling.   
  
Something hard and cold was crushing up against his wheels, filling his underbelly, spilling over his rear bumper and oozing up around his front sensor, blocking his peripheral vision. The only thing he could see was straight ahead. He was trapped.  
  
Frightened for himself and Michael, he opened the link, searching for Michael's amber presence. He found him, comatose. He carefully floated within the link gently probing his mind. Even in an unconsciousness state Michael would transmit pain if he were injured. The only discomfort he could find was a steady throb from a set of cuffs around his wrists. Kitt explored further. He wanted to know what had happened.   
  
Suddenly he slammed a block in place. Fear overwhelming him. He couldn't believe what he had just seen. Blackness. Total blackness. Even with his eyes closed light should have penetrated Michael's eyelids. He could feel the warmth of the sun bathing his face, burning his skin. But the only thing Kitt. picked up in his partners optic nerves was complete profound blackness...  
  
Panicked, he ignited the engine and slammed the transmission into drive... Nothing. He didn't move an inch. He tried rocking the car back and forth. His wheels were held tight.  
  
One of the many monitors on the wall popped on. He saw his own image on the screen. Dread spread through his C.P.U. He was incased in cement up to his scanner in front and up and over his bumper in back. He was trapped... Hopelessly.  
  
Another monitor popped on.  
  
"Welcome K.I.T.T."  
  
Kitt saw the face of a man in his late sixties smiling benignly at him.  
  
Kitt quickly accessed his data banks and pulled up a name to go with the face. Alexander Rehies. Once on staff with the Foundation, he was fired for reasons not stated on his file.  
  
"I hope the accommodations aren't too uncomfortable. You are, after all, a force to be reckoned with."  
  
"What do you want?" Kitt demanded.   
  
"You." The man on the screen said simply. "And your partner Michael Knight."   
  
"What have you done with Michael?"  
  
"You will find out in time. For now, just know that from this moment forth every decision you make, every thought you have will have a direct impact on him."  
  
"If you hurt Michael..." Kitt warned.  
  
"K.I.T.T., K.I.T.T., please," the man on the screen chuckled, "refrain from the histrionics."  
  
"Why are you doing this?"   
  
"Because I am curious. I have watched you and Michael for the past four years. I have seen how you have grown from a mere computer to a sentient being. And I have seen Michael become more and more dependent on you. There is something intangible about your friendship. It's the first of its kind in the world. I want to know what it is. I want to know just how much Michael Knight trusts you. How much you trust yourself."  
  
"I don't understand."   
  
"Allow me to explain then." Another monitor popped on. Kitt saw a close-up of Michael's face bathed in bright sunshine. More dread coursed through his C.P.U. That kind of light would have penetrated Michael's eyelids, unless...  
  
Another monitor popped on. This one showed Michael lying motionless on his back in the desert sand, his hands hidden beneath him.  
  
"Your partner should regain consciousness within the next hour or so, depending on how fast his system assimilates the drug. When he does..."  
  
Another monitor popped on. The camera slowly panned around in a 360- degree sweep showing a desolate terrain of hot desert sand and limestone cliffs. It zoomed a few feet beyond where Michael lay to the edge of a cliff.  
  
"There is a two hundred foot drop to the valley floor below. A drop you might survive but certain death for Michael."  
  
"What do you want?" Kitt asked in a sickening voice.  
  
"It's simple. You are going to guide Michael out of there. It will not be easy. There are traps and dead ends. It should take four days. You must cover five miles in each twenty- four hour period or one of the monitors, your lifeline to Michael, will be cut off. If you lose too many monitors you will simply not be able to get him out. I have provided water. Eight bottles. However only six are fresh. Two have been tainted. So choose wisely."  
  
"I can't..." Kitt said, staggered by the thought of one wrong move costing Michael his life.  
  
"If you don't he will die there. It's up to you. When he awakens he will be confused, scared and... profoundly blind."  
  
The words sliced into his C.P.U. like a knife blade. He already knew, he had seen the absence of light through the link, but to hear the words...  
  
"Permanently...?"  
  
There was no answer.  
  
"How will I communicate with him?" Kitt didn't know if Reheis knew about the link. He hadn't made a reference to it. And if that was the case, he could never know about it.   
  
"I have attached the com-link to the front of Michael's shirt there..." the camera zoomed in on the watch minus the watchband clipped to Michael's shirt pocket. "You will have complete access to all the monitors here. The speakers are sensitive enough to pickup the sound of a beetle crossing the sand. You have everything you need here to keep Michael alive.. Now it's up to both of you to trust each other enough to survive."  
  
  
  
  
Michael dragged himself up through the depths of drugged sleep. He knew the feelings. The groggy mind, the dry pasty mouth. He was lying on his back, his wrists bound behind him. He could feel the hard ground, the warm sun baking his face and plastering his shirt with sweat. A light hot breeze tugged gently at his hair. A bird screeched somewhere above him and the sound disappeared in the distance. He didn't hear anything else. Where ever he was he was alone.  
  
He cautiously reached out for Kitt, touching the gentle white essence and feeling it back away, frightened.  
  
//Kitt...?//  
  
//I'm here.// Kitt answered, his voice tenuous.  
  
//What happened?//  
  
Kitt pulled aback again.  
  
//Kitt...//  
  
Michael tried to remember what had happened. Why and where he was. But his mind was still foggy. What he did know was that he was outside somewhere, desolate from the sounds of things, and it was at or near noon by the feel of the sun blasting down on him. He took a deep breath steeling himself for the glare of the bright sun and opened his eyes. Blackness. He slammed them shut, his heart racing. Now he remembered... The searing light that exploded around them. Kitt's scream of agony as his own pain flooded the A.I..   
  
He rolled over onto his right side, the shackles digging deep into his flesh, but he didn't care. He curled up into a fetal position and laid very still... feeling his heart beating inside his chest, listening to his clipped breathing.  
  
//Michael...?// Kitt hesitantly moved toward him.  
  
He lay there, too afraid to move. Kitt came closer, like a frightened child, wanting to help but not knowing how. He gently touched Michael to let him know that he was there and waited. Time passed. Now the sun was not directly overhead. It no longer burned his skin with the same blistering strength. Fear crept over him like a living entity. If he opened his eyes would he see blue sky? Or blackness.  
  
Slowly he opened his eyes... and stared into blackness. He whimpered silently. The heat of the sun still burned his face, his eyelids. The air he drew into his lungs was hot. Sweat plastered his shirt to his chest. Kitt's presence flowed over him, holding him gently.  
  
//Michael, I'm here.//  
  
Michael grabbed onto him, scared. Kitt tried to pull back, confused. Michael was the one who always took care of him. Now the tables were reversed. He was Michael's lifeline to survival, both mental and physical. It wasn't supposed to be this way. He didn't know if he could do it. If he was strong enough.  
  
// Kitt... Am I blindfolded?// Panic broiled up inside Michael. //Kitt... Am I blindfolded?//  
  
He rubbed his face across the hot sand trying to scrape the blindfold off.   
  
//Michael!! No... you are hurting yourself.//   
  
He dropped his cheek against the dry hot sand feeling graduals of sand tickle his nose with every breath..  
  
//There is no blindfold...// Kitt said gently.   
  
Warm tears welled up in Michael's eyes. He was blind. He was completely blind.  
  
Kitt stroked the amber essence that was his partner, his life. He searched for anything that would explain Michael's sightlessness. There was no reason. He found no injuries, no drugs, nothing.  
  
Michael took a deep breath. //My eyes?//  
  
Kitt cradled him tighter. //I believe it is flash burns from the light. It burned the retinas of your eyes.//  
  
//That's good... Right? Retinas heal...//  
  
Kitt nodded. //That's good.// What he didn't say was that most severe flash burns never healed. Michael needed to have something to hang onto. He needed a will to live. Kitt could feel Michael slowly regain his composure.   
  
//Where are you?// Michael whispered.  
  
//I don't know. In some kind of lab.//  
  
//Are you hurt?//  
  
Michael waited for an answer.  
  
//No...// It came finally. //Not physically.//  
  
A tendril of fear touched Michel then whipped back as if he were afraid to let him know how scared he felt himself.  
  
//It's Ok, we're both scared.// He said softly. //Can you tell me what happened?//  
  
//We were abducted by a man named Alexander Rehies.//  
  
Michael knew that name. He had heard it before, somewhere.  
  
//We are his experiment.//  
  
//What...?// Anger began to replace the fear.  
  
//He has designed an obstacle course. If I can lead you out, you will live. If I can't..."  
  
Michael felt the fear rise in Kitt again.  
  
//What kind of course?// He couldn't believe what he was hearing. How could anyone put Kitt through such an ordeal? Kitt was like a child, still learning his way in the adult world. While he was equipped to handle life and death situations, he wasn't supposed to have to control them. He gently pulled Kitt closer to him, hugging him.  
  
//I'm not sure yet. He wants to know how much trust a human will put into computer.//   
  
//Complete trust, if you are the computer and I am the human.//  
  
Michael suddenly felt Kitt flinch.  
  
//Kitt?//   
  
//It's Rehies. He wants to know why you are just lying there. He's anxious to get started.//  
  
//What happens if we don't cooperate?//  
  
//Michael, I have no idea where either one of us is. Rehies says it is a five-day trek out of there. You won't survive without water. I can't contact the Foundation.//  
  
//So, we cooperate for now.//  
  
//I'm afraid we have no other choice.//  
  
//All right. Does Rehies know about the nuerolink?//  
  
//I don't believe so.//  
  
//Good. Lets keep it that way. Do I have my comlink?//  
  
//It is attached to the front of your shirt. Rehies has positioned cameras in every location possible along the route. I can see everything you do, hear everything around you.//  
  
//My eyes and ears, so to speak.// Michael smiled.  
  
//So to speak.//  
  
//Then, why don't we get this little show on the road?//  
  
//Michael// Kitt said hesitantly, //what if I can't do it? What if I can't make the right decision?//  
  
//Kitt,// Michael wrapped himself around the shivering entity. //I trust you with my life. I always have. I can't think of anyone I would rather place my trust in. Just...// Michael squeezed him tightly, //...trust yourself.//  
  
  
  
  
Rehies watched Michael regain consciousness on one of the many monitors that sat on his desk. He had seen his first initial reaction to the blindness, frantically trying to rub the blindfold off, then he had simply rolled onto his side and remained motionless. Rehies expected more from the great Michael Knight. He reached back and grabbed a soda from the small fridge that sat next to the desk. He had water, food, and soda, everything at his fingertips. He could sit twenty-four hours a day there and not be in want of anything, except the occasional pit stop in the bathroom. He didn't want to miss a minute of Knight and K.I.T.T.'s interaction. He specifically made it so Knight would be forced to rest once the sun went down. He had cameras with infrared lenses but he planned to cut off the comlink during the night. That way he could get a little rest. Five days was going to be a marathon no matter how you looked at it. But one of the most important things was that he remained in complete control. K.I.T.T. was smart and Knight was strong. They could easily do things he was not aware of during the night if he was not careful. He would record every moment throughout the night just in case.  
  
"He's awake K.I.T.T." Rehies said into the headset. "Aren't you going to talk to him?"  
  
  
  
//Rehies is asking why we are not talking...//  
  
//We can't let him know about the nureolink// Michael cautioned.  
  
  
Michael cleared his throat trying to drag some moisture into his dry mouth. "Kitt? Kitt are you there?" He rasped into the black void, knowing Kitt was nowhere near. "Kitt... Buddy, I need you."  
  
"I am here Michael." He heard Kitt's reply through the comlink.   
  
"What happened? Where are you?"  
  
Rehies voice filled Kitt's cabin. "He doesn't need to know that."  
  
"I am close Michael."  
  
"My eyes... I can't see Kitt." It didn't take a lot of acting on Michael's part to make his fear seem real. It was.  
  
"I know. I'm here to help you."  
  
"Where is here?"  
  
"Tell him to get off his damn ass and start moving. The clock has begun to tick K.I.T.T."  
  
"Michael, it isn't safe for you there. I know a safe place."  
  
"Where?"  
  
//Michael. We must begin. Do you think you can stand?"//  
  
//One question: Will I bump my head?//  
  
//No Michael..// There was just a hint of a smile in Kitt's voice. //Your head will be fine.//  
  
Michael struggled to climb to his knees. The blackness affecting his equilibrium. He swayed, nearly pitching forward on his face.   
  
  
Rehies watched Michael push himself onto his haunches then rise very carefully to his feet, balancing and counterbalancing every movement.  
  
  
//Can you do anything about these cuffs?//  
  
//I'm sorry Michel. They are soldered together.//  
  
//He's thought of everything//  
  
Michael set his feet slightly apart, firmly balancing himself. He could feel and smell the hot breeze in his face. Slowly he turned around, feeling the sunlight shifting on his face.  
He stopped. //North West, right Buddy?// Michael asked with a sight smile.  
  
//How did you know that?//  
  
//My Boy Scout training. The sun always sets in the West, and this time of year that would be North West.//  
  
//I'm impressed. Can you tell what time of day it is?//  
  
//Late afternoon.//   
  
The light banter helped them both. It was something that came naturally to them, long before the nureolink was activated.   
  
  
  
Rehies was getting bored. "K.I.T.T., it's time to begin. Here is your first destination."  
A map appeared on one of the monitors on the wall. It showed a route outlined in red. Symbols appeared at the top indicating places and objects along the way. "As you can see, " Rehies continued, "the first part of your journey takes you down through a natural limestone tunnel which leads to an open tundra."  
  
"He needs water. He is beginning to dehydrate."   
  
"There is water waiting at the base of the tunnel. If you can find it, it is his."  
  
The transmission stopped and so did the image.   
  
//Kitt...?//  
  
//Did you hear?//  
  
Michael nodded. //How long is the tunnel?//  
  
//I'm not sure. The image wasn't complete. I only saw the beginning of the tunnel.//  
  
  
//Ok, we better get started.//  
  
  
At first Michael took small shuffling steps. Instinct fighting against reason. Instinct told him to stay still, not walk into the unknown blackness. Reason told him if he stayed there he would die, either of thirst or exposure. Probably both. But in the end it was Kitt that gave him the courage to move forward.   
  
With each step he grew braver. He moved his head from side to side, feeling the differences in air currents and heat. His audio senses seemed to be more acute than they had ever been before. He heard his every footstep crunch into the limestone sand.   
  
"Where am I Kitt?" He called out. He heard his voice echo off walls that were only a few feet away, traveling up and over him to disappear in the air above.  
  
"You have entered a narrow limestone ravine. It is approximately two hundred feet long."   
  
"Can you see me?"  
  
"Yes Michael, there are cameras situated all along the route. You are doing fine. Just keep walking."  
  
"I'm getting awful thirsty here Buddy..."  
  
"There is water waiting at the end of the ravine." Kitt promised.  
  
Michael felt the ground begin to slant downward beneath his feet.  
  
//Kitt... //  
  
//It's alright Michael. There is a gradual decent to the tundra below. It should not be steep enough to...//  
  
Suddenly Michael's foot got caught up in something, tripping him. He couldn't keep his balance. He staggered forward his momentum sending him sprawling toward the ground.   
  
//Michael!!// Kitt felt the terror envelope Michael as he plummeted face forward into the blackness.  
  
Michael tried to whip his hands out in front of him to break his fall but the shackles bit deeply into his wrists.  
  
//Kitt...!// He screamed into the link. He waited for Kitt to respond. There was only silence. Kitt was blocking...  
  
His shoulder slammed into the ground and he slid down the ravine on the loose limestone sand on his stomach as if he were a tobogganist on a luge run. His shoulders and hips scoured the sides of the mountain until he came to rest, sprawled face down in the sand.   
  
He lay there breathless, trying to make his body stop trembling. He felt the sunlight full on his face again.   
  
//Kitt...?//  
  
Michael felt the block strengthen.   
  
//Kitt, please don't do this. I need you...//  
  
The block didn't move. He tried pushing against it. Kitt was stronger than he was now. All his energies were used up fighting the fall.   
  
//Kitt, please,// he begged, //it wasn't your fault.//   
  
Michael felt the block drop just a bit, like a child opening a door just enough to peak out.  
  
//It wasn't your fault.//  
  
//I can/t do this.// the A.I. whimpered. //I can't do this.//  
  
//Yes you can.// Michael gently pulled Kitt closer to him. He was a frightened child, left to deal with decisions an adult would find hard to make. //Yes you can.//  
  
//No!// Kitt tried to retreat again.  
  
Michael grabbed him, shaking him roughly. //Kitt, listen to me. You can't fall apart every time I fall down. I won't make it out of here alive. I'm Ok. I'm hungry, thirsty and pissed off like hell, but I'm not hurt. Scan me, take my vitals. I'm Ok. Just scared.//  
  
//I didn't see the limb.// Kitt said, his voice full of self-loathing. //I should have seen it.//  
  
Michael gently coaxed Kitt out from behind the block. //Of course you didn't.// He said gently. //You weren't supposed to. Its all part of Rehies's game. He wants to undermine the trust we have in each other. But// He gently stroked the white essence, //we can't let that happen. We can't.//  
  
//I don't know if I can do this.//  
  
//One step at a time Pal. One step at a time. Now, we better make this look good for Rehies. Tell me where I am, through the comlink//  
  
"Michael, are you injured?" Michael heard Kitt ask over the comlink.  
  
"I'm alright." He answered, his voice husky from lack of water.  
  
Kitt watched Michael slowly pull himself together. Trying to move with his wrists shackled behind him proved to be more of a problem that Kitt had expected. Michael had to flop himself over onto his stomach then use his shoulder to push himself up to his knees. It took him five minutes to finally get into position to stand.  
  
Michael swayed a bit, the blackness still playing with his equilibrium.  
  
"That was some E Ticket ride." He grinned.  
  
"Are you ready to proceed Michael?"  
  
Michael nodded. "Lead the way Kitt."  
  
Kitt could never understand how Michael could find levity in every situation, no matter how dangerous or complicated.  
  
  
Kitt studied the monitors mounted in the wall getting his first look at the next challenge ahead. Each one showed a different angle of a flat dry riverbed. At one time, eons ago, water rushed through this canyon leaving it scarred and ripped with deep gouges some three feet wide and hundreds of feet long.  
  
//Kitt... What's wrong?//  
  
//Nothing Michael,// Kitt lied, //I'm just studying the valley floor ahead to find the easiest way across.//  
  
Michael moved his face into the slight warm breeze and listened carefully. It was deathly quiet. The only sound he heard was the wind passing by his ears. Where in the hell was he? He could feel Kitt's hesitation. Something was making the A.I. very nervous.  
  
"Kitt, talk to me Buddy, what am I looking at here?"  
  
"Michael, you are standing at the edge of a dried up riverbed a quarter mile wide. It is covered with channels dug out by the rushing water, some are only a few inches wide while others at least three feet wide."  
  
"Can we go around?"  
  
"No Michael. There is no other choice, you have to cross it."  
  
"How?" Michael felt new dread seep into his tired body. He couldn't keep this up. The mental strain of keeping the link open with Kitt was draining. That combined with the terrors he felt walking into the blackness threatened to overwhelm him.   
  
//Michael... you can do this. I will be with you every second.//  
  
Kitt watched Michael on the screen. He looked like he was ready to collapse. He started to shuffle forward. Small plumes of dust billowed around his ankles. No human had stepped foot in this part of No Man's Land in many years. The sun continued to beat down relentlessly.   
  
Another angle popped up on the number three screen in front of Kitt.  
  
"Michael, stop!"  
  
Michael stood stone still, panting.  
  
The screen showed Michael standing six feet in front of a channel carved into the desert floor. Three feet wide, five feet deep. Unimposing under normal circumstances. Michael could leap over it with ease. But this was far from normal circumstances. If he miss- stepped, if he panicked in the middle of the jump he could fall into the crevice. With his hands shackled behind his back there would be no way of getting out. He would be trapped.   
  
  
"What's wrong K.I.T.T.?" Rehies' voice suddenly filled Kitt's cabin. "Michael Knight already doubting you?"  
  
"This has gone far enough," Kitt snapped. "End it, now."  
  
Rehies chuckled. "I'm afraid, for your friend, it's just begun."  
  
"Why, why are you doing this to us?"  
  
"I told you before K.I.T.T., to see how far he will trust you."  
  
Kitt quickly threw up a block. He didn't know what Rehies would say. Michael couldn't know what lay ahead for him. He would give up.  
  
"I will do anything you want, just don't hurt Michael anymore."  
  
"How gallant of you K.I.T.T. But, the only one who will be hurting Michael is you my friend."  
  
Kitt felt a shiver pass through his C.P.U.  
  
"What does that mean?"  
  
"You will find out soon enough. Now you better contact him again before he looses his nerve."  
  
Kitt heard a click and all was quite again. He looked at Michael, standing there, looking lost. He must have noticed the link blocked. How alone he must be feeling. Kitt had never experienced the kinds of feelings he had since the neuro link activated itself, and he was still trying to sort through emotions that made no sense. But love and hate were emotions he felt long before the link, they just intensified. His love for Michael and his safety were paramount, but his hate for Rehies was growing more intense by the second. He wasn't sure if he could control himself if he were to meet him...   
  
He felt Michael pushing at the block, gently at first then harder until he was nearly beating at it. He steadied himself, not wanting Michael to feel the fear and despair that was dragging at him.  
  
//I'm here Michael// he said, gently wrapping his white essence around Michael. //I was talking to Rehies. I didn't want to take the chance that he would discover the link//  
  
//Don't ever leave me alone like that again// Michael pleaded.  
  
//I won't. I promise.// He stepped back giving Michael time to regain his composure. //Rehies says there is water across the riverbed. It will be waiting for you. Are you ready?//  
  
Michael nodded. //I guess as ready as I ever will be. But Pal, tell me, how hard is this going to be?//  
  
//The truth?//  
  
//The truth...//  
  
//If you fall into one of the crevices you will have no way of getting out. But that's not going to happen because I'm going to get you across.//  
  
"Ready Michael?" Kitt asked through the comlink.  
  
Michael nodded, "Piece of cake."  
  
"Very well. I want you to do exactly what I say when I say it."   
  
"You got it."  
  
"Starting on your left foot take three running steps then leap as far as you can. You should be able to clear the ditch by at least a foot. Ready?"  
  
Michael took a deep breath, his mouth dry from the lack of water and the ever-present fear. "Ready."  
  
"Now!" Kitt shouted.  
  
Michael pushed off his left foot and ran as hard as he could leaping into the air on the third step. It felt like he was in the air for an eternity. Without his arms to balance himself he came down on his feet then toppled onto his right side, but it was firm ground. He had done it.   
  
"How was that Kitt?" He grinned.  
  
"Perfect Michael. Although I think the landing could use some refining. We'll work on that on the next one."   
  
Michael stopped grinning. "How many are there?"  
  
"Three more. But you can do it."  
  
Michael struggled back to his feet, swaying with fatigue.  
  
"Let's get this over with," he growled. "I'm thirsty."  
  
"That's the spirit Michael. The next one is twenty yards ahead."  
  
Michael negotiated the next two with little difficulty. But it was beginning to get late and he was at the point of shear exhaustion. His body and mind were fighting with him at every step. The fatigue intensified his fear of the blackness and the unknown. He trusted Kitt with his life, and so far today he had proven that. But now he was beginning to wonder if this was all worth it. If he survived today what was ahead tomorrow? And the next day. And once they got out of here... What would life be like without his sight? He couldn't carry on at the Foundation, except as a desk jockey, not something that suited him. Then what? His knees buckled. He hit the ground hard and didn't move.  
  
//Michael...?//  
  
//I can't Kitt... I can't do this anymore.// He tried to raise a block. He wanted to be left alone. He didn't care anymore. He stared into the blackness. Who would care anyway if he was gone? Kitt and Bonnie and Devon, but beyond them, who? Not his family, they thought he was already dead. Friends? He had few really true friends. He went through life touching other peoples lives, risking his own, then simply walking away. No attachments. That was the key to his life.  
  
//Michael...//  
  
//Leave me alone Kitt... Please, just leave me alone.// He tried to strengthen the block but Kitt was too strong.  
  
//You are tired Michael. You'll feel different tomorrow. You have one more jump then you can rest for awhile. I promise.//  
  
Michael shook his head. //No...//  
  
Fear and anger rose in Kitt. //Yes!// He pushed through the weak block shattering it like glass. //I will not let you die. Do you hear me? You are going to get back on your feet and you are going to jump that last channel. I will not have your death on my conscience. Now get up!//  
  
Michael obeyed the voice. He was too tired not to. He stood up, swaying. He nearly pitched forward. He took a step to balance himself and he felt the toe of his shoe slip off the edge.   
  
"Michael, carefully take five steps back. Good." Kitt had to be precise. Michael's gait would be different, slower, shorter, because of his fatigue. If he under estimated Michael's jumping distance... "Now just like before take three running steps and leap."  
  
Kitt watched Michael take the five steps back, but his movements were lethargic.   
  
"Now!"  
  
Michael began to run, his legs feeling like fifty pound weights were attached. He jumped into the blackness. He came sprawling down on his stomach, the air punched out of his lungs, with his legs dangling over the edge. He felt the loose sand begin to break away beneath him. Panicked, he dug his chin into the dirt to anchor himself and began pulling with his shoulders. One inch at a time. It took him an eternity before his knees were on solid ground and he could wiggle his entire body to safety.  
  
He lay there panting, feeling Kitt surrounding him, comforting him. He fought the desire to just let his mind float off into peaceful sleep. He still needed water.  
  
"Water..." He croaked.  
  
"Two hundred yards ahead of you Michael."  
  
Two hundred yards. It might as well have been two hundred miles. He struggled to his knees and sank back on his haunches. The sun in his face was nearly gone, and there was a new stillness to the land. Nightfall.   
  
He began to move toward the water on his knees. Slowly, painfully he made his way forward.   
  
"Two more feet Michael."  
  
"Where?"  
  
"Above you." A leather pouch hung from the limb of a long dead tree. It had a cup with a shunt that could be opened with the tongue.  
  
"You have to stand Michael. It's right above your head."  
  
Michael struggled to his feet, falling back on his knees twice when his legs gave out. At last he was standing, his legs trembling. He searched the air with his face looking for the bottle.  
  
"To your left." Kitt guided him, "forward, just an inch."  
  
The bag brushed Michael's chin and he grabbed it with his teeth and coaxed the cap open with his tongue. Cool fresh water spilled down his throat. He gulped at it.  
  
"Michael! Slow down. You will make yourself sick. Save some for the morning."  
  
Michael couldn't hear him, the only thing that mattered was the water that filled his stomach, splashed over his mouth and down his chest. He sucked on it until it was dry.  
  
Mental and physical fatigue enveloped him and the spiraled to the ground, face down in the sand, unconscious.  
  
Kitt settled in beside him, feeling Michael's amber essence relax. He would stay by him through the night.   
  
  
Kitt embraced Michael gently as his partner sank into a deep exhausted sleep. Rehies had turned off all the video monitors and his comlink for the night leaving Kitt with just the neuro link. Through the link he felt the pain of Michael's tortured muscles and the beginnings of stomach cramps caused by his drinking the water too fast. He blocked the pain impulses as best he could so Michael could get the sleep his body so urgently needed. He wasn't sure how much more Michael could endure. He was driven to the point of exhaustion, and this was only the first day. He wondered idly if Devon and Bonnie were looking for them. Of course they were. They had been missing for days now. He had tried earlier to access his homing device but Rehies blocked the transmission. He had tried to reroute signals, tapped into the emergency protocol, nothing worked. It seemed that Rehies knew as much about him as anyone at the Foundation. They appeared to be on their own.  
  
  
Michael moaned softly and changed his position just a little, letting his right cheek rest against he sand. Kitt moved in closer assuring Michael all was well.  
  
  
It was toward the early morning when Michael snapped his eyes open. He held his breath waiting, hoping that what he had just gone through was terrible nightmare. His heart sank when he realized it was all too real.  
  
//Kitt...? Can you hear me?// He whispered across the link.  
  
//Yes Michael. You should be sleeping. You will need your rest for tomorrow.//   
  
//What time is it?//  
  
//About four thirty in the morning.//  
  
//Are the stars out?//  
  
//I don't know Michael. Rehies turned off all the video monitors and the comlink. This is the only way we can communicate.//  
  
//Blind too, huh...?// He asked with a touch of bitterness.  
  
//At the moment.//  
  
//What do you think Rehies has in store for us today?//  
  
//I don't know. He has gone to great lengths to prepare these courses for us. I'm afraid there are parts of the human psyche that I don't understand..//  
  
//Rehies is a madman. What makes him all the more dangerous is that he is also brilliant. I've been thinking about him and remembered where I had heard his name. He worked for the Foundation during your development. He was fired just before I came onboard. They found him trying to upload his own program into you. Even back then he was fascinated by your ability to communicate. Now...//  
  
//Michael, do you think he will let us survive even if we finish the course?// Kitt asked hesitantly.  
  
There was a long pause. Michael had often had to come to grips with the realization that his life was in mortal danger. It came with the job. He had prepared himself more than once.   
  
// We'll find a way, somehow, to fight him. We just have to take it one step at a time.// Michael wondered how long this renewed confidence would last. Somehow the blindness didn't seem so bad now, in the darkness of night. It felt natural. But in the morning when the sun was beating down on his face and he couldn't see, that's when the terror would start eating at him again.   
  
//Michael, you had better try to get some more sleep. Tomorrow may be a long day.//  
  
Michael closed his sightless eyes and let himself drift back into sleep feeling Kitt surrounding him, protecting him.   
  
  
"Good morning Kitt." Rehies' grinning face appeared on every screen before Kitt. "I trust you had a restful night. Are you anxious to talk with your partner again? It must be very disconcerting to know that he is out there all alone in the dark, yearning for the sound of your voice."  
  
Kitt remained silent. He gently touched Michael to see if he was still sleeping. The thought of another day like yesterday was overwhelming, his power supplies were already greatly diminished from blocking Michael's pain throughout the night. But without sleep Michael's chances of survival diminished drastically.  
  
"Today, my friend, you are left with a quandary. Which way to go."  
  
Rehies grinning face disappeared and was replaced with two separate images, each one repeated on four screens. Kitt studied the monitors, half showed a rugged path up the side of a mountain. Boulders, some as big as houses looked as if they would continue to slide down the mountain at the smallest provocation. Loose shale and rocks littered an almost non existent trail up to the top of a plateau. The other screens showed a desolate desert rutted with potholes and dried shrub.  
  
"One leads to water and an afternoon of rest for Michael. The other one leads to a dead end, at which point you must backtrack and start all over again." Rehies mocking voice filled the cabin. It's your decision K.I.T.T... Make the right one."  
  
The speaker clicked off and Kitt stared at the monitors. Which way? He analyzed both routes. The one leading to the plateau was treacherous with loose shale and stones. But it did afford some shade from the unrelenting sun. Michael was already badly burned from the sun... But if he fell he could be injured or killed. The desert was easier, but without shade of any kind Michael would be subjected to heat exhaustion and possible sunstroke. Either way it would be hell on earth.   
  
He felt Michael stir and sent out a warning not to move.  
  
//Pretend you are still asleep. We have to talk//  
  
Michael remained still.   
  
//How do you feel?//  
  
//Better// He lied. He hoped Kitt was not picking up on all his discomforts. The A.I. had enough to deal with. And the discomforts were plenty. His wrists stung from the cuffs digging into his flesh, the muscles in his legs were bunched up into tight painful knots and the sunburn on his face and chest felt as if his skin would rip right open with every movement.  
  
//Rehies just presented his next challenge. Michael, I don't know what to do. If I make the wrong decision..//  
  
//I told you before, I trust your judgment//  
  
//Thank you Michael.// But Michael's confidence in him only added to his burden. He had to make a decision he was not equipped to make. He tried to push his indecision aside. Do what Michael would do if he were able. Use his instincts. Make the decisions that had to be made. // He has two routes set up.// He forged ahead. Time was not on their side. //One takes you up the side of a mountain to a plateau and the other across a desert. At the end of one of those routes is water and rest for the remainder of the day. At the other end is a dead-end and you must start over again.//  
  
//Which one do you think Rehies would pick?//  
  
//I don't know. If he abides by human nature...//  
  
//Do the opposite.//  
  
//He will assume that I would think he would put the water at the top of the plateau, then do just the opposite leaving it on the other side of the desert.//  
  
//which means it is probably at the top of the plateau.//  
  
//The would be my guess//  
  
//Then lets head up the hill. I guess we've waited long enough, it's time to wake me up. Kitt...// He held him for a moment wrapping a tendril around Kitt's being and holding him close. //No matter what happens this was a joint decision. Remember that.// Kitt nodded. But he knew the cards were not stacked evenly. No matter what happened, it was ultimately his decision.  
  
//I will Michael// Kitt reluctantly uncoiled himself from Michael and opened the comlink.  
  
"Michael... It's time to wake up."  
  
Michael pretended to fight Kitt's wake up call, the truth was, mentally he was ready, but he couldn't say the same for his body. He lifted his head opening his eyes, stunned by the complete blackness. He expected it, but it wasn't something he thought he could ever get used to. His arms ached from being shackled in their awkward position and the cuffs had cut deeply into his skin. And he knew, without looking, by the steady pounding of his hands that infection had already set in.   
  
"Kitt..." He was surprised how gruff his voice sounded. His throat was dry to the point of gagging from the lack of water and the pit of his stomach had a hole the size of Texas from not eating, in how long, he had no idea.   
  
"Do you think you can stand?"  
  
Michael struggled, his legs not wanting to obey his mind and it took him several attempts to finally climb to his knees.   
  
"Kitt, I need food. I'm starving. I can't continue without something in my stomach."   
  
"I'm sorry Michael. There is no food. Not yet. But there is water. At the top of the plateau to your right. You can make it by noon time and rest the rest of the day. But you must begin now or you will be climbing during the hottest part of the day."  
  
Michael drove every ounce of energy he had left in his wobbly legs to stand. It took precious time for him to find his balance in the blackness. He could already feel the heat of the day start to shimmer up off the hot sand. He wasn't sure if he could endure another day. But he knew he had to. For Kitt's sake. If he were to die out here, with Kitt as his guide it would destroy the A.I.  
  
Kitt studied the mountain. It had been well traveled years before. A narrow path was still visible, although overgrown by clumps of weeds and layers of loose shale, it made it's way up to the top of the plateau.   
  
At points the trail narrowed to a foot or less, dropping off to the rock strewn ground below. One wrong step, one loose footstep could spell disaster. Kitt wondered if he had made the right decision.  
  
"Michael, as you approach the hill you will find the area covered with rocks and stones. Be careful where you walk."  
  
Michael nodded and started walking to his right, feeling for the stones.  
  
//Michael, rock climbing is your area of expertise.//  
  
//There's a little difference here Pal, I'm handcuffed and can't see a damn thing.//  
  
//How many times have you said you could climb a mountain with your eyes closed?//  
  
//Cheap shot Kitt// Michael grinned.  
  
//Are you ready?//  
  
"Kitt, tell me what I'm looking at here." Michael said. He had to remember to use the comlink. Rehise could not know about the link... never.  
  
"The first fifteen feet has a ten degree incline. There is a narrow path overgrown by clumps of weeds and loose shale. You must at all times stay to your right. The path drops off steeply to the left at times. Toward the top the incline it becomes quite steep."  
  
Michael shuffled his way forward kicking away small rocks. It would be too easy to step on a rock and sprain an ankle or worse.  
  
"You are doing fine Michael. You are four steps away from the beginning of the incline."  
  
Michael felt the ground begin to slant upward. He took his first step and waited.  
  
//Michael...?//  
  
//I'm alright. I'm just looking for my balance.// He had learned through experience that all climbing depended on a sense of balance. He had to find his center of gravity. Leaning forward just a bit and raising his shackled hands up a little higher on his back he took another cautious step, then another. Each time he dug his shoe under the loose shale, feeling for solid ground. He had spent a lot of time in this type of terrain. Almost every mountain climb had a skirt of loose shale around it. At times it was the most dangerous part of the assent.  
  
Kitt felt Michael searching for his focus point. Every part of his mind, every muscle was honed in on only one thing... Making it up the mountain.   
  
The climb was hard. For every four steps he took he would loose one from loose shale. Kitt intruded only when necessary. When the path veered in a different direction or an obstacle stood in Michael's way.   
  
The path was becoming steeper and Michael's energy was failing. When he could, he leaned against the limestone walls of the mountain, panting hot air into his already parched lungs. Sweat poured down his face, stinging his eyes.   
  
"How much further...?" He panted.  
  
"Another thirty feet Michael. You are doing fine."  
  
But thirty feet proved to be more than Michael could handle in the searing heat. His legs buckled and he fell hard against the limestone wall.  
  
"Michael..."  
  
There was no response...  
  
//Michael...//  
  
//Sorry.... Can't...//  
  
//Yes you can. You're so close.//  
  
//... Can't...//  
  
Kitt saw the top of the plateau. Michael was so close...   
  
//Get up!// He commanded. //Get up now!//  
  
Michael's body obeyed.  
  
//Listen to me Michael. You are going to make it to the top.//  
  
Michael nodded... He couldn't fight both the mountain and Kitt; and Kitt was so much stronger. He took a step and then another...   
  
  
Michael was only aware of Kitt's voice, nothing else. His mind had shut down. Step after painful step was only taken because Kitt ordered it. He slipped on loose shall and feel to his knees again and again. But Kitt pushed him on. He obeyed his partner because that was all he had to survive on.  
  
Kitt was barely able to hang on himself. He was driven to the brink of exhaustion trying to keep the link open, sometimes throwing himself against a wall of resistance from Michael's wasted body. He forged ahead, pushing and prodding until Michael was just feet away from the plateau, always with that nagging fear that he had picked the wrong direction.  
  
He saw the monitors on the wall shift. One remained on Michael while the other two slowly panned the top of the plateau. Michael stood waiting, his head bowed, his shoulders stooped, his mind huddled in a small corner while Kitt guided him up the mountainside.  
  
Suddenly Kitt froze. He felt as if his world had suddenly collapsed. In front of Michael was nothing more than a wall of rock jetting into the sky, a dead-end. With no water bottle in sight.  
  
A small keening noise escaped his voice box. The top right monitor flickered and Rehies' face appeared, gloating.  
  
"What happened K.I.T.T.?" He asked, reveling in Kitt's anguish. "You picked the wrong direction?"  
  
"Noooo!" Kitt screamed. He tried to slam a block in place, save Michael from the terrible truth but he was too exhausted. He felt Michael react, felt his partners legs buckle. "I'm sorry Michael," he cried. "I'm sorry. There's no water."  
  
Michael collapsed to the ground.  
  
"No more." Kitt pleaded. "Please, make this end."  
  
"Are you giving up so soon?" Rheies panned the number three camera down to Michael's face. Tears ran down his burnt face etching lines through the caked dust. "Are you giving up on your partner, after you were the one to make the wrong decision?"  
  
"Leave us alone." Kitt pleaded.   
  
"If that's what you really want. But are you prepared to watch him die? He will you know. No one but me knows where he is. You will remain here a prisoner, forever encased in this cement, while you watch his body being torn apart by the vultures and hyenas. His bones will turn to dust beneath the hot sun, and you will have a front row seat to all of it. Are you prepared for that Kitt? Death is not pretty in the desert."  
  
Kitt tried to hide, protect himself from the horrible words and the images they produced. But Michael was there, shivering, listening to every word.  
  
//Michael... I'm sorry...//  
  
//Not... your...fault...//  
  
"You made a tactical error Kitt. You tried to outsmart me. But I thought like a machine, like an A.I. I analyzed and reanalyzed. And in the end you did exactly what I expected you to do."  
  
"You have your experiment." Kitt cried. "Michael trusted me. He trusted me... " Kitt reached out to touch Michael, to try to protect him, but he felt a new strength building within Michael's mind. A strength born of hatred and revenge. The savage feelings took him by surprise. He didn't know how to cope with them.   
  
//Don't listen to him Kitt.// Michael said coldly. //He's a Goddamn madman. He's trying to destroy us. He's trying to destroy you. Don't let him.//  
  
//He's right. I made the wrong decision.// The A.I's voice trembled. //I made the wrong decision.../  
  
Kitt suddenly fell back, cringing at the feelings building up in Michael. He knew he was a man capable of hate, he had felt glimpses of it through the link, but Michael had always taken great pains to block the young A.I. when those feeling arose. But this time there was no block. He felt the rage grow like an entity unto itself, fueling Michael's body with newfound strength.  
  
He watched Michael slowly struggle to his knees his face looking up into the sky knowing, for Michael, there was only blackness.  
  
"Listen to me Rehies," he shouted, venom in his raspy voice, "I will kill you with my bare hands for what you have done."  
  
Michael heard a click from the comlink on his shirt then Rehies's voice. "Powerful words for a man so near to death."  
  
"You're a sick bastard..."  
  
"Perhaps, but I still hold all the cards."  
  
"What more do you want?" Michael demanded. His tongue was nearly too swollen to talk. His dry lips cracked with each word. He smelled blood as a thin stream of warm blood trickled down his chin. He had to have water and this madman was the only one who could provide it.  
  
"I want to see if you can finish the course."  
  
"And if we do?"  
  
"Then K.I.T.T. will be set free."  
  
"Is that a promise?"  
  
There was a long pause. "That is a promise."  
  
Kitt staggered back digesting the implications. "And Michael?" He asked hesitantly.  
  
Silence hung between the three. Kitt retreated further, unable to accept the truth as Rehies saw it.  
  
//Listen to me Kitt,// Kitt could feel the hate being pushed aside by Michael's desire to protect him. //He doesn't know about the link. He doesn't know what we as a team are capable of. We will survive because we are together. Kitt, I need you.//  
  
Michael forced his trembling legs to stand and he turned until he felt the hot breeze flow over his face. He could smell the desert below. He took a blind step, then another, waiting for Kitt.  
  
//Kitt... I could use some help here...//  
  
//I can't.// Kitt muttered.   
  
//Yes you can. Now, where the hell am I?//  
  
Silence...  
  
//I can't do this alone!//  
  
//Rehies was right.//  
  
//To hell with Rehies. It's just us now. I'm getting down off this God damn mountain with or without you. With your help I have a good chance of making it, without... I'll probably be food for the scavengers. It's up to you now Pal.//  
  
Kitt watched Michael take his first hesitant step. The loose shale rolled beneath his shoes.  
  
"No! Two steps to your left Michael." Kitt's trembling voice came across the comlink. "Secure your footing on the clump of weeds."  
  
"It's good to have you back Pal." Michael smiled.  
  
"Tell me that when we're crossing the desert later today." Kitt said bitterly.  
  
  
Kitt settled back in as watcher and guide. He knew that Michael's new found strength was just the result of a spurt of adrenalin. It wouldn't last long. And there was still more than half a days hike ahead of them. But they had survived and they would continue to survive.  
  
Half way down Michael slipped on more loose shale and his feet flew out from beneath him. He landed hard on his back, screaming with pain as the shackles bit deep into his wrists. Panting he stayed there...  
  
"Michael...?"  
  
"I'm alright Kitt..." Michael grunted, his words slurred by his swollen tongue. "I need rest... just for a second."  
  
"Just a second Michael..." Kitt agreed.  
  
Kitt watched Michael carefully. He couldn't allow him to loose the edge he had gained at the top of the plateau. If he rested too long his muscles would stiffen up. He had to keep moving. It pained Kitt terrible to have to keep pushing.  
  
"It's time Michael." Kitt said softly.   
  
Michael levered himself back up to a sitting position and slid the rest of the way down on his butt.  
  
Four hours after they began their trek, up to the plateau, they were back where they started. Kitt studied the images of the desert that lay in front of Michael. It was dry and barren and littered with potholes and dead shrub.  
  
Michael stood, swaying, waiting for Kitt's next instruction. His legs felt like jello. He slowly moved his head back and fort in the blackness feeling the hot breeze on his face as he changed direction, listening for the minutest sounds. His hearing had become acute. He heard things he would never have taken time to listen to before.  
  
//Michael... you must follow my directions exactly.//  
  
//I understand Kitt//  
  
"Take three steps forward and one step to your left." Kitt's voice commanded from the comlink.   
  
He did exactly as he was told. Hour after hour. Two steps forward, one step to the right. Four steps to the left one forward. The combinations were endless. The sun was now directly overhead making it hard to breath in the hot, dry air. It was hard to think. If not for Kitt's constant voice over the comlink and his gentle presence in his mind he would have collapsed long ago. But he needed water desperately...  
  
Suddenly, miraculously, his vision cleared. He was heading toward a lake. The sun glistened off the deep blue water.  
  
Kitt knew what Michael was seeing. He tried to grab him, pull him back from the hallucination.  
  
Michael ran toward it. He could feel the air temperature cool as he neared it. He stood on the bank, tears flooding his face. He had never seen a more beautiful site. He took a deep breath and plunged in....  
  
Fiery pain exploded over his body. He tried to scramble back up but thorns were catching at his clothes, burning his skin like white-hot matches. He opened his eyes, blackness. Kitt's voice was calling him from the comlink, trying to calm him. The more he fought, the more he was stung.  
  
"Michael...! Stop!"  
  
Michael struggled to his knees, his body on fire. Insane with fear and pain he tried to yank his wrists free of the shackles, they just dug into his skin deeper.  
  
"Michael... listen to me! Michael...You're laying in Star Thistle. It is painful but it won't injure you. Michael..."  
  
//Michael... listen to me...//  
  
He pushed himself to his feet and lost his balance falling backwards again into the fiery thorns.  
  
//Michael... Stand up!!//  
  
Michael rolled over onto his stomach the star thistle burning every inch of his skin, even his clothes couldn't protect him. He pushed himself to his knees again only because Kitt was there inside him coaxing him. He made it back to his feet, swaying, fighting to keep his balance.   
  
"Thirty feet Michael. Just thirty feet and you will be clear of the weeds."  
  
//Thirty feet. You can do it. One step, then another.//  
  
Kitt felt the agonizing sting of the thistles on Michael's skin. Monitor number six suddenly flickered showing a water bottle hanging from a post sunk into the dry ground.  
  
"Michael...water. I see water. Twenty feet from you."  
  
Michael's pace quickened.  
  
"Fifteen feet..."  
  
The Star Thistle was suddenly gone, but the stings remained.  
  
"Where...?" Michael gasped.  
  
"To your right. Six feet..."  
  
Michael followed Kitt's directions, searching the blackness for the water bottle.  
  
"It's two feet in front of you, hanging from a post. Another foot to your left."  
  
Michael's cheek brushed the cool bottle.  
  
Rehies speaker crackled to life inside Kitt's cabin.  
  
"It might be a good time now to tell your partner that the water is tainted." Rehies chuckled.  
  
"No!!!" Kitt screamed in disbelief. "...You promised."  
  
"I told you in the beginning that there were eight bottles of water and only six were good. You forgot that Kitt. Another blunder on your part. How are you going to tell him, huh? How are you going to tell him that the water YOU promised him is poisoness?"  
  
Kitt's hatred flared.   
  
"You better hurry Kitt. If he finds that water nothing on God's earth will stop him from drinking it. And the game will be over."  
  
The number one monitor suddenly changed to Reheis face again. "Or is that what you want?" He asked, mocking. "It could all be over in a matter of hours. Michael could be put out of his misery. You just have to let him drink. What is better? This torture or death? You decide my friend."  
  
The top screen returned to Michael. He was moving his head back and forth trying to find it.  
  
"Michael..." Kitt's voice shook with emotions he didn't know how to control. Guilt, hatred, despair... "Michael... there is no water. I was wrong..."  
  
Michael stopped dead in his tracks, not believing what Kitt had just said.  
  
//I'm sorry Michael. There is no water...//  
  
Anger rose and exploded in Michael's mind. The overpowering emotion caught Kitt like a sledgehammer.   
  
"Goddamn you Rehies... Where's the fucking water?!!" He screamed into the blackness   
  
Kitt retreated, trying to keep Michael's fury from merging with his own. If they were both overcome with uncontrolled anger Rehies would win.  
  
"Rehies...!!!" Michael's legs buckled and he sank to his knees.  
  
Kitt hovered in the corner, trying to block Michael's mindless rage. He couldn't help Michael if he was swept up in the same furor. He had to stay in control. Michael's rage pounded at him. He watched and waited. Slowly Michael's body gave out and he collapsed into the dirt, curling up into a tight ball, his arms stretched to their limits behind him. Kitt could feel his mind curling up with his body...seeking shelter from reality. He reached out and gently wrapped himself around the amber essence, cradling him. Michael needed rest. What ever Rehies had in store for them tomorrow was a long way away now. He simply let Michael collapse into him.   
  
Time moved slowly for Kitt. He stared at monitor number three. Michael lay coiled beneath the water bottle, gently swaying in the hot breeze. His own feeling of rage welled up inside him. If Rehies were standing in front of him he would have absolutely no compunction to mowing him down like the inhuman animal he was. Kitt saw Michael's body twitch and knew his feelings were transmitting down the link. But there was no block strong enough to trap the hatred he felt at the moment. The thought scared him. He wrapped himself further around Michael, feeling his heart beating. As long as Michel was alive there was hope...   
  
************************************************************************  
  
"Damn it! It's as if they fell off the face of the earth." Bonnie slumped back in her chair. She had been working non-stop for twenty-seven hours. "Nothing, absolutely nothing."  
  
Devon looked up from his desk. "The local authorities have scoured every inch of the area of their last transmission. They have come up empty. Except for the small crater in the road and the radiation residue, there is no evidence that they were ever there."  
  
"They were there all right. We had a clear fix. It was as if Kitt's signal just blinked out."  
  
"Well," Devon ran a hand through his white hair, trying to ward off another headache. "I have contacted all the hospitals and emergency agencies in the area. If Michael shows up at any of them we will know."  
  
"And if he doesn't...?"  
  
"...He won't, you know..."  
  
Bonnie jumped at the sound of the voice coming from the computer's speakers.   
  
"I'm sorry my dear Bonnie, I hope I didn't startle you." The monitor suddenly went black only to flip on again with Rheies grinning face. "It's been too long. Five years to be exact."  
  
"What do you want Alexander?" Devon asked coldly walking over to stand behind Bonnie.  
  
"My, my, such animosity. I thought you would have a warm welcome for an old colleague."   
  
"You were never a colleague Alexander. You were always standing on the outside looking in."  
  
"Because little minds like yours couldn't comprehend what I had discovered. You were afraid of progress."  
  
"You were toying with things that were better left alone." Devon sighed. He had gone down this rode with Alexander more than once. He remembered back... Two years before Kitt had been activated Rehies had worked on another AI. based car... KARR. The results were disastrous, due in part to Rehies's meddling. He wanted to create a computer that was totally self-sufficient. He wanted Karr to be a life unto it's own. With out restrictions. Not bogged down by human emotions and frailties. But he had made mistakes, they all had made mistakes and KARR. was deemed a failure. Then came Kitt and Rehies was again ready to try his radical programs. When his ideas were nixed by the Foundation's Board of Directors he took it upon himself to forge ahead.   
  
"You destroyed K.A.R.R. and you nearly destroyed Kitt."  
  
"And for that I was robbed of four years of my life."  
  
"A life for a life." Bonnie whispered.  
  
"Ah, Bonnie. It has been a long time. But you're are as beautiful as ever."  
  
"What do you want Alexander?" Devon demanded.  
  
"Nothing from you two actually. I have what I want. I just thought I would ease your minds a bit by letting you know that Michael and K.I.T.T. are still alive."  
  
"What have you done with them?" Bonnie breathed.  
  
"After K.A.R.R. was put into mothballs I got to thinking. I had a lot of time to think, you know, four years in prison gives a man a lot of hours to soul search. I wondered what if man and machine were to work together, as a unit? Partners? Then I come to find that Michael Knight and K.I.T.T. had formed some kind of kinship that was unexplainable. Man and machine working as one. The thought intrigued me. How close were they? How much trust would Michael Knight put into an A.I., and how much could the A.I. trust himself? Interesting questions, no?"  
  
"Get on with it." Devon barked.  
  
"I made plans. Hired the right people to carry them out. And the rest, my friends, is history."  
  
"What have you done with Michael and Kitt?" Bonnie's voice was little more than a whisper.  
  
"See for yourselves..."   
  
Rehies's laughing face was replaced by a split screen. Bonnie's stomach dropped. The left showed Kitt sunk to his fenders in a pit of cement. A bank of monitors covered the wall in front of him, each one depicting a different view of the scene they saw on the right side of the screen.  
  
Bonnie gasp. Michael was walking across a desert. His clothes were tattered and blood stained. His face, beneath a growth of beard, was violently sunburned and blistered. His arms were shackled behind his back. But what was most disturbing, what made Devon weak in the knees, was the way he was walking. Each step was hesitant. His head slowly moved from left to right as if he were trying to pick up sounds around him.  
  
"Dear God..." Devon gasped in disbelief, "...he's blind."  
  
"Very astute Devon. What better way to test a man's trust? K.I.T.T. is Michael's only chance for survival. Will he trust him enough? Better yet, will K.I.T.T. trust himself enough to save Michael?"   
  
"You are a manic." Devon seethed.  
  
"Sanity is in the eye of the beholder. People thought all the great men in history were crazy, but time proved them wrong. I will be seen in the future as the forerunner of Artificial Intelligence. I will be the Einstein of tomorrow."  
  
"But at what cost? A man's life?" Bonnie asked.  
  
"There have been many sacrifices through history. In the future people will look back on Michael and K.I.T.T. and deem them the heroes of a new age. Good-bye for now. I will contact you again tomorrow with an update on their progress. Oh, and Bonnie, don't try to trace this call. Any attempt will unleash a virus that will totally wipe out your systems. And, remember," he warned, "I can do it..."  
  
The screen went blank. Bonnie reached for Devon's hand, noticing it was shaking as much as her own.   
  
*********************************************************************   
  
  
  
Condemned to the same blackness Michael was forced to endure, Kitt sat alone in his cement prison. Rehies, as he had the past two nights, cut off all the power leading to the lab leaving him in virtual limbo. His only salvation was the link. He curled himself around Michael's trembling body, feeling the pain of damaged muscles, strained ligaments and torn skin. Each fall Michael took had produced another bruise or abrasion and his wrists were swollen three times their size with infection.   
  
He felt infinitely alone, despite the link. And even though it was not as horrid as being cut off from Michael, as the cuff had done, it was still a devastating feeling.   
  
He was a child when they had first met. Michael, scared and confused himself after awaking to find his world shattered by a bullet that blew his face away, had shunned him at first, then little by little they forged a friendship like no other friendship. Human and A.I. had begun to trust each other. Kitt learned from Michael, and as time went on, Michael learned from Kitt. Together they became an unstoppable force. Then they discovered the chip. Alien and scary at first they worked together to make it their own. It became natural and comforting to be in each other's minds at all times. Even when Michael wanted and needed his privacy Kitt knew he was there, could feel his warm amber presence. And in turn, Kitt's white presence was always a part of Michael's life. Their bond grew. There were still multi levels of the link left to explore. Each day they discovered something new.   
  
  
And now all that was coming to a horrible end. Michael was dying out there in the desert and Kitt could feel his life force diminishing, moment by moment. All because Alexander Rehies wanted to conduct an experiment.  
  
Suddenly, anger flared up in Kitt so fierce that it scared him. He hated Rehies, like no other human being in the world. He wanted to punish him. Subject him to the same hell he was putting Michael through. He wanted the man to suffer. He could see his face, laughing, mocking. Confused, he cried out, his fear racing across the link hitting Michael like a physical blow. He felt Michael gasp and tried to erect a block, but the emotion was too strong. He saw Rehies standing in front on him, grinning, and he felt his tires spin, his prow surge forward, crushing Rehies between his scanner and the cement that held him a prisoner. He saw Rehies' look of disbelief.  
  
The image scared him. He was programmed to protect life, never to take it. The images in is CPU went against everything he was ever taught. Even the hatred he felt against Jennifer Knight the day she had subjected him to the fire and chemicals couldn't compare with the feelings he held for Rehies. He cried out again, stunned by the magnitude of the feeling. He knew love. He loved Michael and Bonnie and Devon... But this feeling of hate was even more powerful. He cringed back.  
  
The sudden impact of Kitt's emotions hit Michael like a sledgehammer. He was instantly awake trying to reel Kitt back from the visions that haunted him.  
  
//Kitt... It's alright.//  
  
//No...// Kitt cried. // I saw him die... I saw myself kill him and it felt good...//  
  
Michael pulled Kitt closer, using the last vestiges of energy he had left in his body. //Kitt... It is a natural human emotion.//  
  
Kitt tried to pull away but Michael held him... //No, I am programmed never to take a life...//  
  
//Kitt, it was just a thought. We are always filled with thoughts. You are reacting to the situation in a natural way. You hate him for what he has done. How could you not?//  
  
//I'm afraid...// Kitt found it hard to even express the thought. //I'm afraid if I had the chance I would carry it out. That would make me no better than him.//  
  
//No... No. Listen to me Kitt. You could never be like Rehies. He's a monster. You are kind and gentle.//  
  
//Then why do I have these feelings?//  
  
Michael pulled him closer and whispered, //It's part of being human Kitt...//  
  
Kitt hesitantly lowered the rest of the block letting Michael's amber essence gently surround him. But it felt so weak.   
  
Kitt quickly wrapped tendrils around Michael trying to give back the strength he had used calming the distraught A.I.  
  
//You must rest.// He said gently.   
  
Michel nodded, letting his mind slip back toward the comfort of sleep.  
  
//Good night Michael.// Kitt felt Michael drift off. A tinge of fear still remaining. What was in store for them tomorrow?  
  
  
  
Michael snapped his eyes open, disoriented. It was still night. He could tell by the wicked chill in the air. He shivered. His face and chest were still fiery hot from the sunburn, but the rest of his body felt cold and achy. He listened. There was a strange quietness to the land. Something had awakened him. He felt a shiver run down his spine, apart from the chill of the night or the blistered skin on his face and chest. There was something else. He reached out a tendril toward Kitt and found his partner sleeping. He knew the A.I. was exhausted. He took a breath and waited.   
  
Suddenly the ground beneath him rumbled and shook from an earsplitting explosion right over him. He instinctively tried to crawl into a tight ball to protect himself.   
  
"Kitt..." He screamed.  
  
There was no answer. He panicked. The comlink was turned off.  
  
Another explosion ripped through the air pounding inside his chest and his head. Thunder.  
  
He heard the crackle of lightening hit somewhere close almost immediately followed by another clap of thunder that exploded right over him and then rolled beneath him.  
  
//Michael... I'm here//  
  
//Is there shelter anywhere?// Another enormous boom shook the ground beneath him making his ears ring.  
  
//No Michael. You just have to ride it out//  
  
A bolt of lightening struck so close he could feel the electricity in the air.  
  
The wind picked up, swirling sand into his face.  
  
//Kitt. How big is this storm?//  
  
//I don't know Michael. Rehies turned off all the monitors//  
  
He heard the crackle of lighting as it split through the air followed immediately by a peel of thunder so loud that the concussion felt like a physical blow to his chest. He crawled to his knees ducking his head to his chest for protection. Again and again the lightening crackled so close he could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. And the thunder exploded around him, his ears ringing from the concussions.   
  
//Kitt!//  
  
//I'm still here Michael.//  
  
//I've been in storms like this before.// He shouted. It was hard to concentrate through the noise. //They can last for hours.//  
  
  
Then as suddenly as it started, it stopped. Michael listened. Everything was deathly quiet. Creatures of the night were holed up under rocks and in burrows beneath the ground, waiting out the storm. He could still feel the electricity in the air.  
  
//Kitt.?// He couldn't help but whisper. //Is it over?//  
  
//I don't know Michael... I...//  
  
Kitt felt Michael gasp through the link. //Michael...?//  
  
A drop of rain hit Michael's hand, then another. He heard the drops hit the sand around him. A few drops at first. He rolled over on his back not caring that the shackles dug deeper into his wrists. He opened his mouth. He gasped in relief as the rain began to fall harder. Drops of cold fresh water stung his tongue, bit at his sunburned face. He began to laugh like a child. The rain pounded his face and he swallowed mouthfuls, feeling it slide down his parched throat and into his hollow stomach.  
  
"Tell Rehies to go to hell!" He screamed into the night, "We have water!!"   
  
//We're going to make it Kitt. We're going to make it!!//  
  
Michael's infectious laughter raced across the link filling Kitt was a sense of joy he had never experienced.  
  
The rain tapered off leaving Michael wishing for more.   
But it was enough. His thirst was quenched. He lay there shivering in his soaking wet clothes and he didn't care. He could go on. He rolled over onto his side and closed his eyes. He was going to make it.  
  
Five minutes later the wind picked up, ripping at Michel's clothes, making it hard to breathe. The skies opened up again in a crescendo of fury and noise. Huge claps of thunder rocked the ground, again and again. Hail poured from the sky, pummeling the desert floor, pelting Michael with marble sized ice. He clambered back up to his knees ducking his head beneath his shoulders trying to protect his face from the stinging hail. A bolt of lightening hit so close he felt the hairs on his neck stand straight up. Then he remembered the metal cuffs again. The temperature dropped thirty degrees in five minutes leaving him shivering violently. He felt like he was back in Vietnam in the middle of the war zone. He expected to hear rifle fire any second. Another thunderous explosion above him came so close it smashed into his body like a fist.  
  
The hail built up around him, freezing his knees. He was running out of strength. His knees buckled and he fell onto his face his cheek frozen by the layer of hail.  
  
And then it was over. Silence. Michael waited for his ears to stop ringing. Light rain began to fall. The ice melted and sank into the parched earth. The thunder rolled off into the distance.  
  
//Kitt...?//   
  
//I'm here Michael. Are you alright?//  
  
He rolled over on his side his heart still pounding in his chest, his skin bruised from the hail.   
  
//Yea, Kitt. I'm Ok. I guess from now on I better be more careful what I wish for, huh?" He chuckled as he drifted off into semi-consciousness.  
  
  
  
Kitt gently pulled away from Michael as he heard the lab power up. Rehies was ready for another day. He dreaded what he was about to hear. While the rain last night had provided some of the precious water Michael needed it wasn't nearly enough. He was suffering from sun poisoning and exhaustion, two life-threatening conditions. He needed rest, food and more water.  
  
"Good morning Kitt," Rehies's face appeared on the screen again. "I hope you had a pleasant night. I understand it rained quite hard early this morning. But I forgot, you wouldn't know about that. You must be anxious to get back in touch with your partner."  
  
Two middle screens flipped on and an image of Michael, huddled into as tight a ball as possible with his wrists cuffed behind his back, appeared. His clothes had already begun to dry out in the hot morning sun.  
  
Kitt fought back at the anger that threatened to engulf him again. He had to stay in control. Rehies would win if he didn't. And that was not going to happen.  
  
"The weather forecast is calling for another scorcher today. Therefore water is going to have to be your paramount concern. There are four water bottles on your route today. One before and one after each obstacle. It is exactly seventeen point three miles from Michael's position now to the end of the course. You have until nightfall at eight thirty two this evening to complete the journey. Just so you know the importance of arriving at your destination before nightfall... There is another storm predicted for tonight, this one is expected to be three times stronger than the one last night. Without shelter he would never survive."  
  
"You are providing shelter for him tonight?" Kitt asked, a little surprised.  
  
"I am not the monster you think I am Kitt. Everything I do is for the sake of science. To know more about you and Michael, to understand the bond you have formed. I will continue to provide what is necessary to keep him alive. And there in lies the crux of the problem... You must decide if there is a time when keeping him alive is not more cruel than just letting him simply give up. You have not reached that dilemma yet... But you will."  
  
Rehies's words stunned Kitt to the core. What did he have planned that would require a decision like that?   
  
  
"But I thought it would be good if Michael had some extra rest this morning. And you my friend, have a lot of work cut out for you."  
  
He waited and watched as all the screens flipped on with a crudely drawn map appearing on the center monitor. It had a red circle at the top left hand corner with two lines jetting out in different directions but merging back together again at a blue dot at the bottom right of the page.  
  
"As you can see Kitt, I have prepared a map, crude as it may be, for you to study. Each line signifies a different route. One is long the other is shorter."   
  
The map disappeared and then reappeared in the top left hand monitor and four landscapes appeared on the center screens.  
  
"Each route has two obstacles. One you can see there on the screen, the other will be a surprise. It is up to you to decide which one you want to guide Michael through. Remember, he is becoming very weak. The quickest route may not be the best route if it requires too much effort. So, I will leave you for now. Study the maps, make your decision. I hope it will be a better one than the last."  
  
Kitt stared at the screens. Two of them showed a deep gorge. One appeared to be at least sixty feet across with an old wooden bridge while the other was shorter, perhaps thirty feet across with an old rope bridge.   
  
The wooden bridge looked ancient with rotting timbers both at the base of the bridge and the planks across it. At least two were already missing. The handrail was merely a rope braided into the ropes that the wooden planks hung from.   
  
The rope bridge, on the other had, was just that. A rope that spanned across the shorter section of gorge, with two ropes as handrails and nothing else. There was no way Michael could make it across. A sighted man in prime condition using both his hands for balance would find it hard to cross.   
  
Kitt's heart sank. Either way Michael was in perilous danger.   
  
  
Michael felt as if he had been physically punched in the gut as a wave of fear raced across the link before Kitt could send up a block.   
  
//What is it?// Michael cried, trying to keep the fear from overwhelming him. It wouldn't take much to send him spiraling into the depths of depression where he could never climb out. He was too mentally and physically exhausted. He needed Kitt to remain strong. Instead the A.I. was crumbling before him.  
  
Kitt stared at the bridge, or what was left of it, spanning the sixty- foot gorge a quarter mile in front of Michael. The main posts sunk into the ground were splintered and bone dry from the heat and termite infestation. Heavy ropes, now frayed and split sagged under the weight of the narrow wooden planks placed at two- foot intervals across the gorge. There was no way of knowing what the condition of the posts were on the other side.   
  
//Kitt... Talk to me Buddy. What do you see?//  
  
Michael felt the fear building in Kitt and he tried to raise his own block but he didn't have the strength. What ever was waiting before him was terrorizing the young A.I. Michael shivered.   
  
Kitt's mind reeled. He had to think. He had to make a decision. Would the bridge hold Michael's weight? And what was the alternative? Make their way back to the other bridge? Michael would never be able to cross a rope bridge. It took strength and balance to cross one. Michael had neither.  
  
Michael slowly tracked his face back and forth, feeling for differences in the air, new sounds, new smells, anything to give him a clue as to why Kitt was nearly catatonic with fear.  
  
//Talk to me. Kitt...// In the blackness, fear was his worst enemy. He could fight through the heat, the pain. But he couldn't fight the fear of the unknown. Every step took all his will power. Without Kitt he was a dead man. Kitt was his eyes. He was only strong as long as Kitt remained strong.  
  
Kitt tried to step back but Michael grabbed him, holding him tight, fighting against his fear. The effort was almost too much. His knees buckled and he fell to the ground, the hot sand burning his skin.  
  
//Don't let Rehies win, not now. Not after all we've been through.// He pleaded. //Kitt.//  
  
The words wormed their way into Kitt's mind. He could feel Michael's strength being eaten away by his fear. He was hurting him. He fought back, shoving the fear into a corner and reaching for Michael.  
  
Kitt saw the bottle of water sitting on the ground next to the left post. He would get Michael to the water then decide.  
  
"Michael... There is water a quarter mile ahead." Kitt said over the comlink. "The path is clear."  
  
Michael struggled back to his feet, his legs buckling beneath him again. He had expended too much energy fighting off Kitt's uncontrolled fear. His strength was gone.   
  
//Michael... Just a quarter mile.//  
  
Michael drove himself to his feet, his legs shaking beneath his weight. He started taking small steps again, one at a time, demanding his body to obey him.  
  
"You're almost there Michael. Just a few more feet."  
  
//Can't ...// He breathed, but he continued to take step after painful step.  
  
"You're almost there Michael" Kitt's uncontrolled fear was displaced by his need to get Michael to water.  
  
"That's it. Right there. It's on the ground beside you."  
  
Kit watched Michael drop to the ground, searching for the bottle with his shoulders and face.  
  
His chin brushed the bottle. He squirmed himself around until he had the top of the bottle in his mouth. With his tongue he flipped the spout open and felt the warm water slide down his throat. It didn't matter that it wasn't cold. It was water he desperately needed to face the rest of the day  
  
He laid there for a long time, motionless, satisfied for the moment.  
  
And then suddenly the fear was back, making his heart beat faster.  
He felt Kitt pull back again. Something still terrified the A.I.  
  
//What is it?//  
  
Kitt remain silent, fear pulsing over the link. Monitor five had just flipped over to a close up of the bridge.  
  
//Damn it Kitt. What ever it is tell me. You can't leave me in the dark here. No matter what it is we'll get through it... Together.//  
  
"Kitt.. talk to me!" He shouted.   
  
Kitt knew it was bad. That the bridge was unsafe to say the least. He was not prepared for this.   
  
"Five yards before you is a bridge crossing over a sixty foot gorge." Kitt said, his voice trembling.  
  
"What kind of bridge?"  
  
Michael pulled Kitt closer, //What kind of bridge?//  
  
Kitt stared at the rotting timbers, the sagging rope. How was he going to send Michael out onto that? If he fell it would be to his death. He couldn't do it. He couldn't make that kind of decision.  
  
//Kitt, you are my eyes. You have to get it together. What kind of bridge?//  
  
"A wooden suspension bridge Michael. It looks incredibly old."  
  
A shiver went down Michael's spine. "Can I cross it?"  
  
Silence...  
  
"How deep?"  
  
//How deep Kitt?//  
  
"I would estimate four hundred feet."  
  
There was something more. Kitt would not be exhibiting this much fear if there was not something else. //Kitt... can I cross it?//  
  
//I don't know Michael// Kitt's voice sounded so lost.   
  
//Can we turn back?//  
  
//No.// Kitt said miserably. //You would never survive the night ahead.//  
  
"Tell me everything Kitt. Everything."  
  
Kitt's fear washed over him again.  
  
"It is old. The timbers are rotting away. The rope that secures the planks are frayed and ripping. Most of the guardrail is missing, there is just bare rope."  
  
As Michael listened to the description of the bridge ahead he suddenly realized where Kitt's fear was coming from. He had to make the decision whether to send Michael across the bridge or not. If he made the wrong decision it would cost Michael his life.  
  
//Kitt, listen to me// he said gently, //what ever decision you make will be the right one, no matter what the outcome.//  
  
//But Michael...//  
  
//Answer yourself this question... What happens to me if we simply stop here and wait for help that will surely not come?//  
  
//Michael please...// That was what Rehies had said. There would come a time when he would question whether it was better to just let Michael give up. No...   
  
//What are the odds of me making it across that bridge?// Michael demanded.  
  
//I can't give you odds on your life.//  
  
//That's exactly what you have to do. I do it everyday. Every time we are on an assignment, we are testing the odds. So far we've been damn lucky. And our luck is not about to change now. Last night you were angry, so angry you could have killed Rehies right there on the spot, right?//   
  
//Michael, please...// Kitt tried to back away but Michael held him fast. The memories of that hate were as strong as the fear he felt right now. They were powerful feelings. They hurt. He cried out and tried to erect a block again but Michael used every bit of his energy to stop him.  
  
//Use that anger now. Turn your fear into anger. Use it against Rehies. It's a human emotion. Don't be afraid of it. Love and hate, that is what makes us who we are... Use it! Use it!//  
  
//It's wrong...//  
  
//No it's not! It's what keeps us alive. Embrace it. Use it. Get me over to the other side of that bridge and past anything else Rehies has in store. Let me stand in front of him when this is all over, with or without my sight, and let me spit in his face.//  
  
Kitt felt the anger surge through him. Powerful. He shoved away the fears, stared at the bridge, analyzed and reanalyzed every inch of it. He could get Michael across. It wouldn't be easy. But it could be done. He found new life within himself. At that moment he knew he would never be the same again. He was entering a new chapter in his life. His innocence was tarnished.   
  
//Alright...// There was a new quality to his essence. Assuredness, determination. Rehies was not going to win. Michael was going to survive.  
  
Michael felt the change in the A.I. and sighed silently. Rehies had destroyed something that would never again exist. Kitt would never be quite the same. Life moved everyone, everything forward. But it was sad that some things could not remain as they were forever.   
  
Exhausted, he let himself relax. The sun was searing hot, directly overhead. It would only get hotter from now on. He needed to rest. The confrontation with Kitt had depleted everything he had. But he didn't regret a word he said. But it took its toll.  
  
//Michael, are you ready?//  
  
//In a few minutes Kitt. I have to rest.//  
  
//Five minutes.// Came back the answer. Forceful and confident. Michael grinned to himself. What had Dr. Frankenstein wroth???  
  
  
Kitt was true to his word. In five minutes he had Michael back on his feet and ready to attack the bridge.  
  
"Listen to every word I say." He instructed through the comlink.   
  
"I understand."  
  
Kitt had carefully mapped out a crossing, taking into consideration all the stress points on the rope and fragile wooden planks.  
  
"Take two steps forward and sit on your butt."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Michael, if we are to do this then you must obey everything I say. Don't question it. Do it."  
  
Michael nodded. He took the two steps and dropped down on his butt.  
  
"Slide forward until you feel your legs dangle over the side."  
  
A wave of fear washed over Michael. "How far down is the bridge?"  
  
"It doesn't matter. You are following my directions, right?"  
  
"Right."  
  
"Then slide until you feel your legs dangling."  
  
Michael did as he was told. He felt nothing beneath his feet. He instinctively thrashed against the shackles on is wrists.  
  
"That won't help Michael." Kitt warned. "You can not free your hands. You know that. Now listen to what I say. Are you ready?"  
  
Michael nodded again. Jesus, Frankenstein was turning into Hitler!   
  
"Slide off the side until you feel your feet touch the first slat below."  
  
Michael wasn't sure he could do it in the blackness. He could feel the hot air rise up around him from the floor below.  
  
"The first step will be the hardest, but you can do it."  
  
Michael took a deep breath and slid off the side into the blackness. His feet immediately felt the first plank below him.  
  
"Good. Now, carefully stand up."  
  
Michael pushed himself away from the side of the mountain and he was suddenly standing in the middle of nowhere. He could feel the hot air moving beneath his feet. The bridge swayed and bounced. He nearly lost his balance. Fear, so strong, it cut off his breathing, overpowering him.  
  
//Michael... I won't let you fall. Trust me.// Kitt threw up a block strong enough to keep Michael's fears at bay. In doing so he knew he was diminishing his own ability to touch Michael through the link but it had to be done. Michael's fears were so strong and so close to his own that he risked them merging, becoming one monstrous fear that neither one of them could control. He had to remain strong. He had to detach himself from Michael's pain until he was safely on the other side of the gorge.  
  
"The planks are approximately four inches wide, spaced at two foot intervals." Kitt kept his voice steady, controlled. "Each plank has a two-inch hole at each end where a rope has been threaded through and knotted underneath. That rope is then attached to another rope, waist high that acts as a railing."  
  
As Michael visualized the bridge beneath him his heart raced faster. Kitt was describing a rope bridge, one that took strength and balance even for a sighted man, not a blind one with his hands shackled behind his back. He now knew why Kitt had been so terrified.   
  
"I don't know if I can do this Kitt."  
  
"You have no choice." //Other than to just give up and let Rehies win. I will not let that happen. Now, you trust me, right?//  
  
Michael nodded inwardly.  
  
//Then let's get started.//  
  
"Take one medium step forward," Kitt directed.  
  
Michael lifted his right foot off the plank and the bridge immediately started to sway. He quickly stepped back and froze.  
  
"It's all right Michael. It's meant to sway."  
  
Michael could only hear his heart beating in his chest, his ragged breaths.  
  
//Feel your center of gravity Michael. Concentrate. You are in control. Each movement you make will make the bridge move. Anticipate it.//  
  
He tried again, carefully planting his foot on the next board, waiting until he felt balanced before bringing his left foot up.  
  
"Perfect." Kitt watched Michael, his stance revealing the terror that he felt inside. But he took another step then another, each time fighting to keep his balance on the swaying bridge.  
  
"You are doing fine Michael."  
  
Michael didn't feel that confident. He could never remember in his life being more terrified. A hot wind picked up, tugging at his hair and clothes. Below he could hear what sounded like rushing water, but he knew that it was just the wind swirling around in the canyon four hundred feet below.   
  
He took another step. Each plank sagged beneath his weight making the rest of the structure undulate. The sound of rope being pulled past its limit hummed all around him.  
  
Another step, balance, rest. He did that again and again. His legs were knotted with leg cramps. Each one felt like it weighed fifty pounds.   
  
"You are doing fine. You are almost half way there."  
  
"Do I get a present if I make it across?"   
  
"Michael, you get anything you want." Kitt promised, letting his guard down.  
  
Suddenly fear blasted through Kitt's block, smashing against Michael's mind. He fought to keep his balance.   
  
//Kitt...?//  
  
Kitt remained silent, trying to regroup. The next plank in front of Michael was splintered in half.   
  
Michael stood stone still, feeling the suffocating heat rising up from the valley floor below. He tried to quash the fear, blank out the images of him tumbling over the rope railing and plummeting to his death.   
  
"Kitt...! Talk to me...!"   
  
Kitt strengthened the block, fighting back the fear. They had come so far.   
  
"Michael. The board in front of you will not hold your weight. You will have to jump over it."  
  
"How...?" Michael's mind reeled. He was barely able to keep his balance at two-foot intervals. How in hell was he supposed to cross four feet?  
  
//You can do it.//  
  
//I can't,// Michael gasped. He was suddenly exhausted. He couldn't take another step. The hot days in the unrelenting sun, the cold nights, the torrential downpour this morning. All of it in total blackness. He couldn't do anymore.  
  
Kitt felt Michael's despair and pushed it aside. He couldn't let himself get caught up in it. He was Michael's only chance for survival. He had to remain detached. He forced himself to study the monitors on the wall, the same monitors Rehies was watching and it suddenly made him angry. Rehies was doing this to the one person he loved more than anything in the world. He remembered what Michael had said about hate and grabbed onto it. He would not let Rehies win.   
  
"Michael listen to me. You can do this."  
  
//You have come so far already. Rehies is loosing the game... We're winning.//  
  
Michael felt the hot wind tug at him, making the bridge beneath him sway more.   
  
//Remember you told me to get angry. Use my hate. You do the same. I promise you I will see Rehies standing before you while you spit in his face.//  
  
"You can do this."  
  
Kitt dug deep into his C.P.U., remembering, //Michael... Remember when I was trapped in the acid pit?//  
  
Michael nodded. He would never forget that. He had thought he had lost Kitt forever.  
  
//Remember what you said to me about fighting back? About not giving up.?//  
  
//That was different. I'm blind Kitt. I can't see a damn thing. I may never see again.//  
  
//I was blind too, in a way. My body was gone. The life I knew from the moment I was activated was destroyed. But you wouldn't let me give up. You fought with me and for me. You made me move on.//  
  
//Because there was hope.//  
  
//There is hope for you too.//  
  
//What if this blindness is permanent? What if I can never see again?//  
  
//Then I will be your eyes. Michael... I love you too much to let you just give up. Rehies said there would come a time when I would have to ask myself if it was not better to just let you give up and end all your misery. That time will never happen. I will not let you simply die because it would be easier. You will fight. I will make you. And if you hate me for the rest of your life for what I am making you do, then I will accept that. But I will NOT let you give up!//  
  
Michael stood stone still. Astonished. Kitt was now the teacher and he was the student. The child had become a man.  
  
//Kitt...I love you...//  
  
//I know. And with love comes trust. Trust me Michael...//  
  
//I do Pal... I do...//  
  
//Then are you ready to proceed?//  
  
Michael nodded, taking a deep cleansing breath. Kitt's determination fueling him with renewed energy. //I'm ready.//  
  
Despite the block, Michael could feel the love and respect flow through the link. He would survive, he had to, for the both of them.  
  
"Remember the distance between the planks and double it." Kitt ordered.  
  
Michael steeled himself, knowing his next step may send him plummeting four hundred feet to the valley floor below.  
  
He took the step, stretching his right leg as far as he could. His toe touched the edge of the plank and the bridged swayed madly.   
  
"You're doing fine. Slide your foot forward."  
  
Slowly he slid his foot forward until it was secure on the plank, the bridge undulating beneath him.   
  
//You're Ok Michael, just wait for the swaying to lessen.//   
  
The blackness was suffocating him. He stood there, his legs straddled over the broken plank, his muscles screaming in pain.  
  
The bridge quieted down. The swaying diminished to a gentle rocking in the wind.  
  
Carefully, balancing his weight on his right leg he slowly pulled his left leg across the abyss and settled it securely next to his right. It took all his will power not to collapse on the spot.  
  
"You did it!!!" Kitt's joy was infectious and Michael started smiling. He had done it. Damn Rehies to hell, he had done it!  
  
//No... You did it.// Michael whispered across the link.  
  
"Fourteen more steps and you will be on solid ground again. Are you ready?"  
  
"No... But let's get this over with."  
  
"By all means..."  
  
Michael took two more steps. Balancing was becoming easier. He developed a feel for the swaying and undulating. Without his sight his other senses seemed heightened. He could feel the brittle planks beneath his shoes, but they were holding. He could hear the rope stretch with every movement.  
  
He took another step. Something behind him snapped and the bridge shook violently.  
  
"Kitt...!!!"  
  
"It's all right. One of the strands of rope broke. There are still three more on the left and the right is holding. Keep going. Keep going."   
  
Kitt studied the last monitor. It showed a gaping hole at the end of the bridge. The last plank was missing.  
  
  
Michael felt the tingle of fear pass through the link again. No matter how hard Kitt tried to block out the negative feelings some of them always escape. It was the nature of the link.  
  
"What now K.I.T.T.?" Rehies's taunting voice suddenly filled the cabin. "You've taken him so far. What to do... What to do? You had better make a decision soon, before he looses his nerve."  
  
//What is it Pal...?//  
  
//Nothing Michael...//  
  
//Talk to me Kitt. I have a right to know.//  
  
"Are you loosing your nerve too K.I.T.T.?" Rehies's leering face appeared on the top monitor.   
  
Kitt tried to ignore the mocking voice.   
  
"Does he trust you enough to take that finale leap of faith?"   
  
/"There is another gap between the planks. This one is between the next to last plank and the edge of the gorge."  
  
"Can I can't jump it?"  
  
"The end of the bridge is hanging a foot lower than the edge of the gorge."  
  
Michael's legs nearly buckled. How was he going to make a jump like that? He had barely made the last one.  
  
"What's it going to be K.I.T.T.?" Rehies demanded. "He's waiting..."  
  
Kitt fell back on his rage. Rehies was not going to stop them now.  
  
"Listen to me. I want you to visualize a spot four feet in front of you and two feet high. That is what you will be aiming at when you jump."  
  
"Scared Michael?" Rehies's voice suddenly echoed from the comlink startling Michael. "It's a long drop if you miss the jump."  
  
"Go to hell Rehies!" Michael shouted into the blackness.  
  
"One wrong move and... It's a long way down."  
  
//Don't listen to him Michael//  
  
"They say a person is dead before he hits the ground when he falls from great heights. What do you think Michael? Will you feel the impact when your body slams into the bottom of the ravine? Or will you die in mid air? Interesting question."  
  
"Don't listen to him Michael. Listen to me." Kitt ordered.  
  
//I can't do this//  
  
//You've already done the impossible. You've crossed the gorge. Just one more jump and you can rest. Just one more.//  
  
"You better hurry Michael. That bridge is old. It was never meant to be used again."  
  
//He's right. You must hurry."  
  
Michael heard the sound of cracking wood.  
  
Monitor three switched to a close-up of the left post splitting away from the ground.   
  
"Now Michael! One of the posts is breaking away. Jump... Now!"  
  
The right side of the bridge suddenly lurched. Michael fought to keep his balance.  
  
"Now Michael!"  
  
//Now...!// Kitt opened the link releasing all his strength.  
  
The plank beneath him snapped... He felt the bridge giving way beneath his feet.  
  
He dug deep and jumped into the blackness. It seemed to take an eternity. He could feel the heat from the sand come up to hit in the face. He landed hard on his stomach and didn't move.  
  
"Michael...?"  
  
He couldn't answer. He could barely breathe. He had made it.  
  
//Michael...?//  
  
//Yea...// He whispered, //I'm still here//  
  
//I knew we could do it. And Michael...// "If you move your head to the right six inches you will find a bottle of water."  
  
He followed Kitt's directions and his chin hit the water bottle.   
  
The effort was almost too much. His mind and body were wasted. He opened the spout and felt the water trickle down his throat, then he just laid there, hugging the ground, afraid to move.  
  
Kitt gently surrounded him feeling him slip into a deep exhausted sleep. //Rest for now Michael...//  
  
Rehies's disappointed face disappeared from the top monitor.  
  
They had won another round.  
  
  
Kitt allowed Michael to rest for a few minutes before nudging him awake again.  
  
"You still have to get to the caves before nightfall Michael."  
  
"No... Let me stay here."  
  
"That's not an option. There is another storm headed this way. It will be far worse than the one last night. You need shelter."  
  
//I can't take anymore Kitt...// Michael's body shuddered. //Rehies has got all he's going to get.//  
  
//You can't give up now. Not after all this.//  
  
//I don't have anything left....//  
  
//You have me.// Kitt said simply.  
  
The words were so simple. The meaning so complex. Self loathing forced Michael up to his knees. What right did he have to let Kitt face this alone? The young A.I. had been through every minute of this with him. He was as hurt and weak as Michael.  
  
//I'm sorry Kitt//  
  
//There's no need to be sorry Michael. As you said before, it's all part of Rehies's plan. We can talk about it more when you reach shelter.//  
  
Michael swayed to his feet, listening to the cracking of wood as the bridge continued to disintegrate on the valley floor below.  
  
  
  
  
Nick Mackenzie shifted in his seat as he felt the 747 begin it's decent. Unlike most overseas trips, he had an uneasy feeling all the way home. Karr was not the cause. He was residing inside a steel crate in the cargo hole, a place where he could stay away from prying eyes. And to Nick's chagrin, ease Karr's recent fear of flying. Somehow Kitt's fear of flying passed across the link and buried itself deep in Karr's C.P.U.. It was a subject they seldom broached. Karr was too proud to admit fear. So the crate seemed to be the perfect answer.  
  
But something was needling Nick, at the back of his skull, trying to materialize like a lost dream, and it was getting on his nerves. He sat back and closed his eyes, reaching across the link for Karr.   
  
I feel it Karr said, worried.  
  
The plane landed smoothly and on time. After passing through customs he went directly to the cargo area to pick up Karr.  
  
The moment the metal hatch opened Nick was assaulted by a vicious mental blow.  
  
Karr... He struggled to stay on his feet.   
  
Karr blasted through the still half opened metal hatch. Kitt...  
  
There was nothing more to be said. Now he knew what the nagging feeling was. Nick jumped into the drivers seat and Karr careened away narrowly missing a half dozen airline employees.  
  
"Where is he?"   
  
"Don't know. He is projecting. He's in pain, Knight's pain."  
  
Nick gripped the steering wheel harder. "Do you know what's happened to them?"  
  
"The signal is contaminated. Blocked."  
  
"Kitt is blocking?" Nick asked in surprise.  
  
"No. His signal is being jammed. But whoever is doing this does not appear to know of the link."  
  
Nick looked out at the open road ahead. He wasn't sure where they were going. Just following the signal the best they could. "If you are receiving a semi jammed signal then how much pain is Michael really in?"  
  
Karr decided not to answer. What he felt coming across the link was horrific pain. Mind and body. He could only imagine what Knight, and Kitt the receptor, were truly going through.  
  
"Get Devon and Bonnie. Maybe they know what the hell's going on."  
  
  
"Thank God.." Devon said, his voice relieved. "We have been searching for days for you." His voice may have sounded relieved, but his expression was anything but. Nick studied him on the video monitor mounted in Karr's dash. The old man looked ten years older. His face was pale and drawn, sporting a two-day stubble. His normally immaculate attire was wrinkled and sweat stained.  
  
"What the hell is going on?" Nick demanded.  
  
"Michael and Kitt have been kidnapped. They've been missing for five days."  
  
Devon's words hung in the air.   
  
"By who?" Nick finally asked.  
  
"Alexander Rehies."  
  
Karr's reaction took Nick by surprise. He felt the shell around him shudder.  
  
Karr... do you know Alexander Rehies?  
  
Karr's answer was full of venom. He was responsible for my initial shutdown.  
  
Nick wanted more answers. But the emotion seemed too raw to ask Karr. Instead he turned to Devon.  
  
"Devon, who is Alexander Rehies and what does he want with Michael and Kitt?"  
  
Devon's face went whiter, if that was possible. "Alexander spent the last four years in the Federal Penitentiary at Rykers Island. He was convicted of sabotage. I don't have time to go into great detail but he was determined to test his A.I. programs on Karr. It was a dismal failure and Karr was deactivated."  
  
Nick felt Karr's anger well up inside the C.P.U. The depth of which he had not felt in years.  
  
"When that didn't work he set his eyes on Kitt. It almost worked. Kitt was almost lost to us. Thank God he was discovered before he fully uploaded his program."  
  
Nick felt Karr react.   
  
Take it easy Nick warned. Stay focused.  
  
"What does this Rehies character want with Michael and Kitt?"  
  
"He's conducting an experiment... He wants to know how much a human will trust an A.I. and in turn how much an A.I. will trust a human." Devon's words sounded hollow, as if all his emotions were drained.  
  
"How...?" Nick growled.  
  
"What I am about to show you is not pretty. Rehies started feeding us these images three days ago. Today, so far, we have received nothing..."  
  
Devon's face was replaced by images that rocked both the man and the A.I.   
  
They saw Kitt, submerged up to his bumpers in hardened cement. And watched in silent disbelief as Michael shuffled his way across the arid desert, his hands shackled behind his back, his clothes torn and bloody. They saw him falter up the steep mountainside to the plateau and cross the swaying bridge stretching over the deep gorge.  
  
Nick's stomach dropped.  
  
"He's blind..." He hissed, shocked.  
  
The screen returned to Devon, his face mirroring his anguish. "Kitt has been his eyes..."  
  
Karr trembled with rage.  
  
"You don't know where they are?"  
  
Devon shook his head. "Rehies threatened to destroy all our systems if we tried to trace the images. The man is a genius. If he wanted to he could destroy all of FLAG, then there would have been absolutely no hope for Michael."  
  
"He can't destroy us." Karr's voice held an ominous tone Nick had not hard in years.  
  
Devon unconsciously drew back from the screen. He had seldom heard Karr speak. But when he had, he had never heard the tone so dark. It sent shivers down his spine.   
  
  
  
Bonnie's face appeared for the first time behind Devon, her face drawn and colorless. "Find them," she whispered. "Please... find them."  
  
"We will." Nick said, a knot of pure hatred forming in is stomach. When he found Rehies there would be no one, no place on earth that would save him...  
  
The man is a dead man. Karr murmured.   
  
Nick nodded in agreement.  
  
  
Nick took a deep breath; there was plenty of time for revenge once they found Michael and Kitt.  
  
"Devon, send me everything you have, no matter how small. Rehies will not be expecting an assault from anyone but the Foundation. If I can surprise him, I may be able to find the location. Meanwhile, you gather the support groups. Doctors for Michael, someone to dig Kitt out of that cement."  
  
"Already in place." Devon said.  
  
"Good. We'll keep you posted on our progress."  
  
"God speed Nick." Devon whispered and the screen went blank for a moment before a streaming line of information was fed into Karr's computers.   
  
  
  
************************************************************************  
  
  
In less than an hour, Michael was standing before the limestone mountain with a series of small caves cut into its face. Kitt counted seven in all. Rehies had said there would be water in one of them. Not the top, not the bottom, but somewhere in the middle. That narrowed it down to five choices. Rehies wanted Michael to have the water, he also wanted him rested for tomorrow's test. Kitt studied the mountain like a map. It told of millions of years of erosion. Small changes in color told of the floods that had inundated the area when Earth was just in its infancy. And it showed much newer scars. There was a distinct water line four feet up the face. Kitt remembered the horrific storm the night before and realized that storms of that magnitude were not at all uncommon in the area. Signs of flash floods could be seen everywhere. If the approaching was storm was any worse than last nights then there would surely be a flash flood. Rehies knew it, he knew the area. He would keep Michael high enough off the ground to keep him out of harms way. He spotted a cave two feet above the water line. That would be the cave that Rehies would leave the water. Kitt was sure of it.  
  
"I found the cave Michael." The tricky part was getting him inside. It was too high off the ground for Michael to crawl into and he couldn't climb with his hands cuffed behind him. He needed at least a foot more height.  
  
Kitt spotted a boulder a foot to Michael's right. It appeared to be laying on top of the ground rather than partially buried like the rest of the boulders strewn around the base of the mountain.  
  
"Michael... There is a bolder to your right."   
  
Michael inched his way over until his right foot hit it.  
  
"Now, try to move it with your foot..."  
  
"You're kidding..."  
  
"I'm very serious Michael. Try to move it."  
  
Michael shoved it. It didn't budge.  
  
//Try again Michael.//  
  
Another nudge and the rock tilted over.  
  
"That's right. Now start moving it to your left."  
  
Michael nudged it and pushed it.   
  
"This damn thing must weigh sixty pounds..." Michael huffed.  
  
"Hardly Michael. I would estimate it weighs about forty. Just another three feet."  
  
At last Michael felt the boulder slam into the face of the mountain.  
  
"Now Michael, if you stand on it you will find the opening to the cave at waist level. You can easily make your way inside."  
  
Michael stepped onto the rock and leaned into the cool cave. It was not, however, easy making his way inside. He squirmed and kicked until he was far enough in to use his legs.  
  
Kitt could no longer see Michael hidden in the safety of the cave and he wasn't sure if he had even picked the right cave. He was almost afraid to tell Michael about the possibility of water. If he was wrong, how would Michael handle it?  
  
  
Michael scooted himself as far back into the small cave as he could and relaxed his head against the cool rock wall. He stared into the blackness, taking some solace in the fact that even a sighted man could not see in the darkened cave. In the distance he could hear the first rumblings of another storm heading toward him.   
  
//You'll be safe here tonight Michael.//  
  
//What about you?//  
  
//I'm fine.../  
  
//The truth Kitt. I've been so wrapped up in my own ...//  
  
//Later. After you have rested.//  
  
Michael nodded, feeling safe for the first time since the ordeal started. He felt Kitt wrap a gentle tendril around him and relaxed into the safety of the A.I.'s soothing presence. He would sleep tonight. Whatever happened tomorrow was a long way away...  
  
  
Hours later the full force of the storm hit overhead and the mountain shook with the sound of thunder. First the rain began to beat down. Michael rolled over on his back, despite the cuffs and carefully squirmed out of the cave until his face was bathed in the cold fresh rainwater. He gulped it down until his stomach was full and the first pellets of hail began to fall from the sky.  
  
Back in the safety of the cave he relaxed again. He had gone past the stage of gnawing hunger. Now he only felt an emptiness in his stomach which the water quickly filled.  
  
He opened the link and found Kitt sleeping. The ordeal had been just as hard on the young A.I. as it was on him. He closed his eyes and let himself slip back into a deep sleep, one that even the monstrous storm outside could not disturb.  
  
  
"Good morning Kitt." Rehies's grinning face appeared on the top screen again. "I hope your partner is well rested. Today is the last day. You make it through the cavern and you both are free."  
  
Kitt felt a surge of fear flow across the link. Michael was listening.  
  
"You two are quite amazing. I never would have thought you would make it this far. But today will be the real test, for both of you."  
  
Kitt waited for the rest of the monitors to switch on so he could see what was ahead of them for the day. But as each screen popped on, it displayed another image of Rehies, and another and another. Every screen showed him grinning down at him, mocking.  
  
"You are completely on your own today K.I.T.T. Three quarters of a mile West of Michael's position, he will find a large cave that leads to the other side of the mountain, and your freedom. There are only three cameras inside. One at the entrance, one at the exit and one in the center. You must guide Michael through it. You will have to rely on each other. This is a true test K.I.T.T. Everything else up to now has been preparation for this final test."  
  
"How can I lead Michael to the cave entrance if I can't see where he is going?"  
  
"That's up to you and Michael. Remember it is three-quarters of a mile due West of his position."   
  
"This is insane. It can't be done..."  
  
"Then he will die out there. Good luck K.I.T.T. If you make it I will be in touch again...Oh, and by the way... You dodged one last night. You picked the wrong cave, there was no water in that one..." The monitors flipped off and Kitt was left to stare at the blank screens, Rehies implied threat haunting him.  
  
  
  
//Kitt... Are you all right?// Michael tried to warp a gentle tendril of comfort around the A.I., but Kitt backed off. //Kitt... What's wrong?//  
  
//It can't be done.// Kitt tried to back away further but Michael held him fast.  
  
//Yes it can. We have already come so far.//  
  
//How can I be your eyes when I can't see either?//  
  
//Use your other resources. We'll work together...//  
  
  
************************************************************************  
  
  
  
Bonnie listened to Rehies in stunned silence. It was over. There was no way that Kitt could lead Michael through the desert.  
  
"Don't give up on them just yet, my dear," Devon said, laying a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Those two don't give up easily."  
  
"But how, Devon? How is he going to lead..."  
  
"They will find away. Now, have you had any luck in tracking down Nick and Karr?"  
  
"No." She said, dejected. "You know them. When they don't want to be found... But I did leave messages with everyone I could think of."  
  
"Excellent. Somehow they will get the word..."  
  
  
************************************************************************  
  
  
  
Michael struggled out of the cave. His body was one huge hurt. Sleep had helped a little and so had the rainwater. But the day was already sweltering hot and he was beginning to feel the full effect of the infections in his wrists. This had to be the last day because there was nothing left in him.  
  
"Ok Kitt, think. Which way?"  
  
There was silence.  
  
"Come on partner. We can do this. Which way?" Michael began to turn, feeling the sun on his face, the direction of the breeze. "Kitt calculate the direction of the sun at this time of day."  
  
//Brilliant Michael! //Kitt opened the link as wide as he could, feeling everything Michael felt.   
  
//Kitt... We can't let Rehies know about the link.// Michael cautioned, //no matter what, even if it means we don't get out of here. The stakes are too high. If he finds out about it...//  
  
//I know... Nick and Karr.//  
  
//We can't let them go through this.//   
  
//You have my word Michael//  
  
//Then let's get this show on the road.//  
  
Kitt nodded within his C.P.U., and took what would be the equivalent of a deep breath.  
  
"Ok. Michael, turn until you feel the sun on your left cheek."  
  
Michael slowly turned, feeling the sun begin to burn his face.  
  
"I feel it."  
  
"That is due west."  
  
Michael took a cautious step forward, testing the ground first with his toe to make sure it was solid ground. He did that again and again.  
  
"You are doing fine Michael."  
  
As the sun shifted in the sky Kitt calculated it's position.   
  
"Keep talking to me Michael. Let me know what you feel."   
  
"The ground is getting harder. I can feel small cracks. There's a light breeze. Maybe four miles an hour coming from my right."   
  
//You are doing fine.//  
  
"Stop Michael."  
  
Michael stopped and waited. He could smell the desert air heating up.  
  
"Turn to your left until you feel the sun on your right ear."  
  
Michael turned slowly. "Ok..."  
  
Kitt felt every step Michael took. He could feel the throbbing pain of his shackled wrists, each step bringing new pain to his infected hands.   
  
//I have to rest Kitt...// Michael's slow pace nearly came to a stop.  
  
//Not yet. You have gone a half-mile already. Another quarter mile, then you can rest.//  
  
Kitt could feel Michael's thirst growing in proportion to his dwindling strength. His body could no longer fight the ravages of the broiling sun and heat.  
  
//Just a few more steps. Then you can rest.//  
  
Fatigue began to make him careless and he forgot to check the ground before he committed to another step. His toe caught a clump of sagebrush and stumbled forward. Somehow he caught himself and stood stone still, waiting for his heart to calm down.  
  
"Michael, you mustn't loose your concentration. You must stay alert. Your are almost at the caves..."  
  
//How much further?// Michael stared up into the black sky knowing the sun was blazing down on him. Would he ever see it again?  
  
//You will Michael. You will...//  
  
Pain and frustration flooded Kitt's side of the link. Michael was falling back into despair. If he was allowed to linger there Rehies would win.  
  
//Michael! You only have a short distance to go before you reach the cave. You have to keep going. One step then another.//  
  
Michael took a deep breath, the hot air searing his lungs and stepped forward.  
  
Twice more Kitt instructed him to change direction, just slightly.  
  
The direct sun suddenly stopped burning Michael's skin.  
  
"Kitt, I'm in the shadows."  
  
"Tell me what you feel..."  
  
Michael opened his mind up to take in everything around him. He was never so aware of the little things before. "I smell something different, cool air. I can hear the wind behind me."  
  
"You smell the air from the cave. Start walking forward slowly."  
  
Michael took hesitant step after hesitant step. "Kitt, the ground feels softer."  
  
"You are getting close. Keep going."  
  
Michael's foot hit something hard. He took another half step and bumped into the sold wall of the mountain.  
  
"I'm here Kitt."  
  
"I knew you could do it."  
  
//Feel the air Michael. The cooler it is, the closer you are to the cave entrance.//  
  
Michael shuffled to his right. The smell grew fainter. //It's to my left//  
  
He shuffled back the other direction. The smell grew stronger. Suddenly a blast of cool air engulfed him.   
  
"I found it!" He yelled. "I found it!"  
  
  
One screen suddenly popped to life on the wall in front of Kitt.   
  
//The monitor is back on.// Kitt reported. //I can see the inside of the entrance.//  
  
//You can't see me yet?//  
  
//No. You will have to be inside for the camera to pick you up.//  
  
Michael carefully stepped forward expecting to slam into the wall of rock again, but instead he was suddenly surrounded by cool air blowing in his face.  
  
"I can see you Michael."  
  
From the camera view Kitt could see the cave entrance was large, at least fifteen feet high, but it quickly sloped down to a mere four feet. A layer of limestone sand covered the floor. As Michael shuffled forward clouds of untouched sand billowed around his ankles.  
  
"How deep does this cave go?" Michael asked. He could hear his own voice echoing around him in the hollow cave.  
  
"I don't know Michael. There is a light atop the camera but it only reaches a few feet. Beyond that I can't tell."  
  
"Which way?"  
  
"Turn to your left Michael. That's it. Stop. Now, walk forward. The ceiling slopes. You will have to start ducking very soon."  
  
"How low?" An old fear suddenly gripped at him. He didn't like tight spaces.   
  
"Four feet from what I can see." Kitt felt Michael's fear increase.   
  
Michael took a deep breath. He started walking... slowly, feeling the air change around him as the ceiling dipped down. His hair touched the ceiling and limestone powder filled the air, making it hard to breath.  
  
"Drop to your knees."   
  
//Jesus Kitt, how low is it?//  
  
Michael felt the walls closing in tighter. His shoulders were touching either side.   
  
"Michael, you are out of the sight of the camera. I can't see you anymore. You have to tell me what's going on."   
  
//It's getting too low Kitt. I don't think I can get through.//  
  
//You have to try.//  
  
//What if I get stuck?//  
  
//That won't happen. You have to go on Michael.//  
  
"Kitt it's getting cramped in here."  
  
"Keep going Michael."  
  
Michael crawled forward, his head skimming the ceiling, his shoulders pushing along the sides. He suddenly lost his precarious balance and fell forward on his stomach. He began to crawl on his belly, his shackled hands behind his back scraped the ceiling.  
  
"It's getting..."   
  
Suddenly he heard a loud click from behind him, then the unmistakable sound of a metal door sliding into place.  
  
"Kitt!!!"   
  
"What's happening Michael? I can't see you anymore."   
  
"It's a trap...!" Michael squirmed his way back until his feet hit the metal panel. He kicked at it, heard it reverberating through the cave. It wouldn't budge. "It's a God damn fucking trap!!!" Fear gripped him. He was trapped.  
  
//Michael, you have to stay calm.//  
  
Michael scrambled forward. The cave was too narrow.   
  
//Michael... You have to stay calm. There's a way out, if you stay calm...//  
  
  
  
Michael felt the sudden terror of being trapped in the darkness. Fears that were ingrained in every man, from the time of the Neanderthals, were brought to the surface and magnified by Rehies tests. And that was what it was all about. The days spent in the desert, without food, with precious little water, deprived of his sight. Driven beyond his endurance just for this moment. Too exhausted, to beaten to fight back. Terror griped him like a powerful cold hand, squeezing his heart until it threatened to burst.  
  
Kitt recoiled. He had never felt an emotion so intense. It rocked him back against the wall that held the link in his C.P.U. like a physical blow. He tried to raise a block but Michael's fear overpowered everything. They had been through so much. The canyon, the bridge, the storms. Michael had held on despite the blindness. But he couldn't fight this. Not alone. And with a grim realization, Kitt knew that even he might not be strong enough to get him through.  
  
//Michael...!!//  
  
Michael felt Kitt trying to reach him. But the blackness was suffocating him.  
  
Kitt dug deep, found a layer of strength he didn't even know he had and pushed through into Michael's mind, forcing his partner to look at him. The amber essence within Michael's link was broiling with confusion. Kitt tried to grab him, calm the swirling mass but Michael's fear was so strong.  
  
//I'm here with you Michael...//  
  
Kitt could feel the fear expanding. He felt the cool limestone walls crushing in on Michael's shoulders. Saw the blackness that smothered him. There was room to move, mere inches, but there was room.   
  
//Michael, listen to me... Crawl forward...//  
  
//I'll be trapped...//   
  
//No you won't, there's room. You can squeeze through.//  
  
Michael couldn't move. Fear held him like an iron claw. Nothing else existed.  
  
Kitt grabbed him, pulled him close. //Don't give up Michael... I'm here with you.//  
  
//I... can't...//   
  
//Yes you can! I won't let you give up like this... Crawl forward! //  
  
//I'll be trapped...// Came the frightened reply.  
  
//No you won't. There's room. You can squeeze through.//   
  
//No... Leave me alone... Just leave me alone...//  
  
//No! I won't leave you alone!//   
  
//Please... I've had enough. I can't...// Michael laid his cheek against the limestone sand staring into the blackness. He wanted it all to end. Now... He had nothing left to fight with.  
  
"Michael!" Kitt shouted. He couldn't let Rehies find out about the link. "Push forward. You have room."  
  
"I... can't..."  
  
//Michael... If you die, so do I...//   
  
Silence hung in the blackness... Michael raised his head up. Fear of a different kind suddenly swamped him. What if he did die? No one would know about Kitt, where he was. He would simply curl up inside himself and die alone in the black void where the link used to be. He couldn't let that happen...  
  
//Kitt...//  
  
Kitt felt the pain and wrapped himself around Michael, funneling his strength into Michael's body.  
  
//Michael, I know your tired, I know you're hurting, but it's almost over.//  
  
Michael squirmed forward, prodded by a fear that was stronger than his fear of the darkness and the unknown. The fear of failing Kitt.   
  
It was too tight. He felt his shoulders constricted. He was stuck.  
  
"Michael, you can do this. There is no turning back."  
  
Michael stared into the blackness, trapped, wedged tight on all sides.  
  
"Blow all the air out of your lungs." Kitt wrapped a tendril around Michael's chest, coaxing. //Blow it all out. It's the only way.//  
  
Michael pushed the air out of his lungs and lunged forward.  
  
//Push through... Push through!//  
  
Michael pushed and he felt the cave walls loosen their grip. He was propelled forward and then there was nothing beneath him. He tumbled into space until he hit the hard floor six feet below, landing on his left side. He felt the agonizing pain and heard the unmistakable sound of a bone snapping. He broke a rib... maybe two.   
  
Shocked, he laid there panting, trying to draw air back into his lungs. Each breath brought a searing pain to his side.  
  
Kitt felt the jolt of pain as Michael hit the ground. He gently wrapped himself around Michael and began to rock him, murmuring soft words, words that meant nothing but calmed Michael's racing heart. Michael grabbed on, letting Kitt's voice lull him as he slipped into unconsciousness.   
  
  
  
  
A second monitor flipped on and Kitt saw Michael lying on the cave floor. His shirtsleeves were torn and bloodied from squeezing through the cave, his hair coated in white limestone dust. But he was alive.  
  
The camera revealed a large grotto. A light mounted on the camera afforded the only illumination in the cave except for a dim outline of another opening. It appeared to be taller than the one Michael had just squeezed through but just as narrow. What did Rehies have in store for them next? Kitt gently surrounded Michael and waited, protecting him. The journey would be over soon. One way or the other.  
  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Bonnie stared at the monitor, looping the bridge scene over and over. There was something there, something that was catching her attention. She tried to ignore Michael, fear etched on his face so deeply that she could feel it herself. But it wasn't Michael, it was something else.  
  
"My dear," Devon walked up behind her surprised to see her viewing the same scene. "Torturing yourself will not bring him back any sooner."  
  
"There's something there. I know it. I'm just not seeing it."  
  
Devon grabbed a chair and dragged it over to the console. "Maybe two heads are better than one."  
  
She nodded grateful.  
  
"Tell me what you see." He said.  
  
"An old suspension bridge strung over a gorge. The mountain and surrounding areas appear to be limestone. There is little vegetation, I would say it was somewhere in the South West."  
  
"I agree. Rehies was very careful in what he showed us. There is nothing extraordinary about..."  
  
"Yes there is! Look, beneath the bridge." Bonnie pointed to a small black speck beneath the center of the span.   
  
"What is it?"  
  
Bonnie typed in a command and the speck was magnified until it took shape.  
  
"A black Tattenger."  
  
"What?"  
  
"A Black Tattenger is a bird found only in the Arizona desert. Add that to the limestone composition of the mountain..."  
  
"Well done Bonnie. We may indeed have our first lead." But was it going to be in time?  
  
  
************************************************************************  
  
  
  
  
"Dr. Barstow is trying to reach us." Karr reported. He didn't feel comfortable having anyone from the Foundation with an open channel to them. But circumstances warranted it.  
  
Nick looked at the monitor. Bonnie had what might pass a for a smile on her face. "We may have found something." She said.  
  
"What?"  
  
"I believe Michael is in the Arizona desert somewhere."  
  
Nick felt Karr hit the accelerator.   
  
"We're heading that way now."  
  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
  
Kitt gently began nudging Michael awake. An hour was all the time they could afford. Michael's vital signs were deteriorating at an alarming rate.  
  
"Michael... it's time."  
  
Michael tried to shove Kitt away but he was held firm.  
  
//It's almost over. Just a little more.//   
  
"Get up Michael." Kitt commanded. "Get up, now."  
  
Michael groaned. "No..."  
  
"Yes. We have come too far, you and I."  
  
//There is no life without each other. You fought for me in the past. You made me go on when I couldn't, wouldn't. Now it's my turn. I will not let you lie there and die.//  
  
Michael heard the words, and while his fragile mind could not decipher each one, the meaning was clear. Kitt was not about to let him simply give up.  
  
He pushed himself up to his knees, swaying. His shackled arms pulled at his cracked rib. This was impossible.   
  
He stumbled forward until his shoulder hit the cave wall.  
  
"Move two feet to your right Michael." Kitt ordered.   
  
Michael shuffled his feet, dragging his shoulder along the limestone wall. The wall gave him a sense of safety. Suddenly the wall was gone and he fell forward the air around him cooler.   
  
Stunned, he lay there and waited. He felt Kit hovering around him, letting him gather himself again.  
  
"Where the hell am I?" Michael yelled. His voice echoed back at him.  
  
"I don't know Michael."  
  
He stretched his legs out, feeling for anything but sand beneath him. His left foot hit a wall. He slid his body toward it, never letting his foot off the wall. Slowly he pushed himself up until he was standing leaning his right shoulder against the wall, using it for support and balance. His legs were barely holding him up. What ever Rehies had in mind for them still lay ahead.  
  
"Anything Kitt...?"  
  
"I'm sorry Michael. You're beyond camera range."  
  
Michael continued on. One step after the other. He felt the temperature start to rise. He must be getting closer to the exit. A small tinge of hope traveled across the link to Kitt.  
  
Michael felt an old railway tie beneath him and straddled it between his feet.  
  
"Kitt. This must have been an old mining shaft."  
  
Suddenly he bumped into a heavy metal object, grunting at the pain that lashed through his broken ribs.  
  
"Michael...?" Kitt felt the pain jolt Michael.  
  
"Something is blocking my way."  
  
"Can you tell what it is?"  
  
Michael leaned against it, sliding his body back and forth against it, feeling it's shape. It felt solid and square, waist level. He carefully balanced himself on one foot and tapped it with his knee. It sounded hollow. Slowly he walked around it, squeezing between it and the tunnel wall.  
  
"It's an old coal loader. This must have been a working mine at one time. They used it to haul limestone out of the tunnel and into the waiting trucks."   
  
//Michael, if you follow the tracks it should lead you out of there.//  
  
//My thoughts exactly.//  
  
Michael started walking forward, scrapping his left foot along the raised track. It was the first bit of luck he had since falling into this nightmare. He wasn't about to step away from the track and loose his way.  
  
  
Kitt stared at the blank monitor screens before him. It had been an agonizing ordeal, leading Michael across the open desert, and across the bridge. But this was far worse. Not being able to see what lay ahead of Michael. He felt as blind as his partner. Fear crept into his CPU, the same fear Michael had been consumed with the past four days. He pushed it away. He couldn't allow it to take root and fester in his mind. He had to remain strong. Michael needed him.  
  
Michael felt the heat building around him, smelled the hot sand. He was getting close to the opening.  
  
"Kitt... I think I'm almost there." He yelled, his voice almost giddy with excitement. He increased his pace.   
  
Kitt could feel Michael's heartbeat increasing. He was on the verge of collapsing. If he didn't slow down, conserve what little energy he had left he would never make it to the end of the tunnel. The thought galvanized Kitt into action.  
  
//Michael! Stop...!//  
  
Michael obeyed without thinking. He stood in the blackness, panting, trying to draw gulps of air into his lungs, each breath stinging his ribs. He could feel his heart thumping in his ears. He swayed, fighting to keep his knees from buckling.  
  
//You must slow down// Kitt ordered.   
  
//So close...//  
  
//I know. But it will mean nothing if you die of exhaustion before you reach it.//  
  
Michael nodded. He felt the heat radiating off the tunnel wall. He was so close. Maybe only a few feet.  
  
Slowly he began to walk again. The railway veered to the right and Michael followed it. The sounds of his footsteps changed. The echo was returning. The tracks were leading him away from the wall, deeper into the tunnel.   
  
"Kitt... "  
  
He took four more steps and he felt the cool dampness of the cave return, felt the slight incline in the ground beneath his feet.  
  
"Kitt, I'm heading back into the cave."  
  
Kitt could feel the cool air flush Michael's face. Why would the track lead back into the cave? They should have led to the exit.  
  
//Michael...?//  
  
Michael's shoulders sagged. He was lost... again. He had come so close... He could feel his pant leg soak up the blood as his wrists began to bleed harder. He felt nauseated from the pain. If he didn't find a way out now....  
  
"Which way Kitt?" He whispered. "Which way...?"  
  
Kitt panicked. He felt Michael shudder. Which way? He didn't have the answer. He was a blind as Michael. This is what Rehies had said. This was the hell that he was going to face the rest of his existence. If he made the wrong choice... Michael was too tired and too injured to go on if the wrong decision was made.   
  
//I don't know...// Was the honest answer.  
  
Kitt fought to keep from running and hiding in a corner of his C.P.U.   
  
//Kitt...?//  
  
He had to make a decision. Michael wasn't able to. It was up to him. He reached out to Michael... Michael wrapped a tendril around the confused A.I. and held him close.   
  
//I'm sorry Kitt.// He said softly. //This is not just your decision alone, it is ours. We'll make it together.//  
  
//But I'm supposed to be leading you, helping you.//  
  
//And you are. God, Kitt, you are. You have been my eyes, my life, for the past four days. I would have died out there a dozen times without you.//  
  
//But when you need me most...// Kitt was falling back into the child he truly was.   
  
Michael fell to his knees wrapping his very being around the frightened A.I. //I love you Kitt. No matter what happens, you know that. Now, pull yourself together and let's figure this thing out.//  
  
Kitt nodded. He calmly started to think... to analyze. It had been a working limestone mine at one time. It had a system of tracks, presumably winding in and out of the caves inside the mountain. It was possible that the tracks could weave in and out for hundreds of feet. If Michael was at the beginning of the tracks it could take him days to return to the exit.  
  
"Michael, I think you should backtrack."   
  
"Follow the tunnel wall?"   
  
"Yes. "  
  
Michael painfully hoisted himself to his feet. The rest had brought his heart rate down, but he was dangerously close to collapsing. He hoped to God that Kitt was right, because this was it.  
  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Nick squinted into the sun at the labyrinth if buildings that seemed to have simply risen out of the shimmering sand.  
  
"What the hell...?"   
  
It was once owned by the military during the cold war era, since abandoned and left to rot.  
  
"Rheies...?"  
  
Yes. Karr growled.  
  
"Alone?"  
  
There was a long pause and Nick felt a war of conflicting emotions rattle the angry A.I. to his core. Kitt's there.  
  
Nick's blood ran cold.  
  
"Is he in touch with Michael?"  
  
They are linked deeply. Knight is barely alive. Kitt is trying to keep him going.  
  
Can you help? The link was so much more personal. Despite Karr's insistence on his unemotional make up, Nick knew that Kitt's ordeal had weighed heavy on Karr.  
  
I can only advise him that I am near. I can't take the chance of him loosing what little connection his has with his partner.  
  
Nick watched the speed eat up the distance and in minutes they were barreling toward the center square building.  
  
  
Rehies heard the rumble a split second before he saw the North wall disintegrate around a blur of black surging into the room. He raced to the window and watched the black Stealth screech to a stop inches from Kitt, trapped in the cement pit.   
  
Karr saw Rehies staring at him from behind the window. He shuddered at the thought of being mere inches from the man who had destroyed him once. Kitt whimpered, feeling Karr's hate combine with his. The emotion, foreign to him only a few days ago was now paramount in his mind. Only surpassed by his fear for his partner. But when this was over, no mater what the outcome he would exact his revenge. Karr stepped back, floored by the emotions flooding his end of the link. Kitt was projecting an emotion Karr had never felt from the younger A.I. Pure, unadulterated hate. He wanted Rehies dead too. He was responsible for the suffering of his younger brother and the torture of Knight. Both had to be revenged.  
  
Nick jumped from the car and fell to his belly in front of Kitt gently stroking the hood of the frightened A.I.  
  
"We'll have you free soon."  
  
"Not me," Kitt cried, "find Michael. I'm losing him."   
  
Karr couldn't take anymore. He backed up and accelerated toward the wall, Rehies's eyes as big as saucers as the Stealth barreled toward him.   
  
"Karr. No!!!" Nick yelled.  
  
He must be punished!  
  
I agree. But we find Michael first.  
  
Rehies stared at the Stealth. K.A.R.R.? The car looked aggressive, dangerous. He took a step back. He could feel the vibration of the engine rumble beneath his feet. K.A.R.R. It was impossible. He had seen the tapes of his destruction years ago. Destroyed by Knight and K.I.T.T. But there was no mistaking the Stealth. It had a feeling of simmering rage. If only his initial experiment had worked. If Devon and his cohorts had not interfered, he would be in control now. Control of this massive beast. But suddenly he realized all was not lost. K.I.T.T. was not the only one. Whoever was K.A.R.R.'s driver, he seemed to have the same rapport with the Stealth's A.I. as Knight had with K.I.T.T.. If K.A.R.R.was here then the experiment could continue no matter what the outcome of Knight and K.I.T.T.  
  
Rehies regained his composure. "K.A.R.R..." He grinned through the protection of the thick plate glass window, "I can't say that I am completely surprised. You always had a way of doing the unexpected."   
  
"Where is Knight?" Karr demanded, his voice resonating against the lab walls. There was pure anger in that voice.  
  
"See for yourself..." The bank of monitors came to life. Each one showed a different view of Michael struggling to stay on his feet as he staggered along the track. Strobe lights from the cameras lit up the cave, showing every detail.   
  
  
  
"You God damned bastard..." Nick growled as he watched Michael walk deeper into the cave, away from the light of the exit "He's headed in the wrong direction."   
  
"Michael... Stop!" Kitt shouted through the comlink. There was no reaction.  
  
"You can't reach him K.I.T.T.," Rehies gloated, "I shut the comlink down. He can't hear you. Now you will have to watch him die like a lab rat lost in a maze. Alone, sightless. How does it feel K.I.T.T.?"  
  
A keening cry came from Kitt.  
  
Rehies began to laugh. "Watch..." He said and flipped a switch.  
  
Monitor 4 showed the coal car Michael had passed earlier disengage its' brake and it began to roll forward gaining speed on the slight slope.  
  
"Michael...!"  
  
"He can't hear you..." Reheis reminded Kitt, his voice high pitched in his excitement.  
  
//Michael... watch out!//  
  
Karr... can you access the brake? Nick barked.  
  
No. Too much interference.  
  
The young A.I. was too traumatized to know what to do. He had been pushed past the brink, like his driver. Existing on instinct and love.  
  
Michael stopped and listened. He felt the ground beneath him begin to rumble. The sound grew louder. Something was coming toward him. He felt limestone dust snow down from the ceiling.  
  
_Tell him to keep walking.  
  
_No! The car will kill him...  
  
_Tell him to jump to his left on my command. Trust me Kitt. Tell him to keep walking...  
  
//Keep walking Michael. Karr is here.. He's helping. Trust us...//  
  
"What's happening...?" Michael tried to yell into the blackness but his throat was too dry...   
  
//Kitt!!!//  
  
Karr watched the monitor... Nick continued to pat Kitt's hood...   
  
_Tell him to keep walking.  
  
Michael hesitated... Confused.  
  
Shit! Nick watched the monitor over his shoulder, He doesn't know what the hell's going on. Tell him what's happening!   
  
_Tell him! Karr ordered.  
  
//Michael... The coal car is heading toward you. Karr wants you to jump to the left, only when I tell you to. Do you understand?//  
  
Silence...  
  
//Do you understand?//  
  
Michael nodded. He trusted Karr. Above all...he trusted Kitt. He started shuffling forward again.  
  
He could feel the ground shaking beneath him like an earthquake.  
  
  
  
Rehies watched the drama unfold before him and was stunned. Things were happening that he didn't understand. The dynamics of the room changed. Somehow K.A.R.R. was suddenly in charge. There was nothing verbal... But there was no denying it. My God... He slammed his face up against the window not wanting to miss a minute of what was going on. They were communicating. All of them. Knight was reacting. He was turning around. How... How did he know?   
  
Michael continued to shuffle along the track feeling it vibrate against his foot.  
  
The coal car was just inches away from Michael. The light from the exit suddenly touched Michael's face.  
  
_Now!!!!  
  
//Now Michael!!!// Kitt commanded. //Jump now!//  
  
Michael hurled himself to the left the coal car brushing his right leg.  
  
The monitor showed Michael jumping at the last second, rolling down the slight embankment out of the shadow of the cave, into the bright desert sun.  
  
Nick waited...   
  
Kitt grabbed onto Michael, feeling for a pulse.   
  
_He's alive...  
  
He's alive   
  
Nick took a deep breath, not realizing he was holding it.  
  
Kitt collapsed around Michael, exhausted. He just held on, coaxing Michael to keep breathing.  
  
Rehies stood up, backing away from the window. Karr dropped into drive and slowly approached the window. He braked inches from the window and hit the accelerator spinning the tires. White tire smoke billowed up around him. He wanted to kill Rehies.   
  
Later. Nick promised. There isn't time. We have to get to Michael   
  
He patted Kitt's hood one last time then pushed himself up off.   
  
He must be punished. Karr snarled.  
  
He'll pay. Just not at this moment.  
  
He walked toward the window, seeing Rehies back up in fear.  
  
The door Karr  
  
With pleasure.  
  
Karr honed in on the door lock and it clicked open.. Nick unlocked the door kicking it open. Rehies dropped to the ground and scrambled beneath his desk. Nick approached, murder in his eyes. Rehies cowered back. Nick yanked the rope from the blinds that covered the plate glass window when Rehies wanted privacy and grabbed him throwing him forward against the window.  
  
"We'll be back. I promise." He hissed as he wrapped the rope around Rehies wrists. He shoved him down into his chair using the extra length of rope to tie him to the chair. It took all his resolve not to pummel the man to death. " Karr is one pissed A.I. I sure as hell wouldn't want to be you."  
  
Rehies sank deeper into the back of his seat trying to wheel himself away from Nick. But Nick held the chair firm. "And," he promised, "after Karr is through with you, Kitt will have his turn."  
  
Nick turned and walked out of the room slamming the door behind him.   
He turned to Karr. "Have you got a fix on Michael?"  
  
Three point six miles West of our location there is an abandoned limestone mine. I believe Knight is there.  
  
Nick dropped the car into reverse and stopped next to Kitt. "People are on their way to free you."  
  
"Don't worry about me... Get Michael."  
  
"And Karr..." Kitt growled, "Rehies is mine..."  
  
The venom in Kitt's voice startled both Nick and the older A.I. Nick pulled out of the compound heartsick. Not just for what Michael had been forced to endure, but for a loss that could never be replaced. Kitt's innocence.  
  
Karr careened out of the lab and headed across the desert leaving a rooster tail of dust behind.  
  
Karr... Raise Devon and Bonnie  
  
Nick noticed that Karr did so without hesitation.  
  
"We have Kitt." He announced. "We're going after Michael now. Have the medical team..."  
  
"It is already in the air." Devon said, his voice shaking with emotion. "Just give us your coordinates."  
  
"Karr will transit them."  
  
Bonnie's haggard face appeared on the screen. "Is Michael...?"  
  
"I don't know his condition." He answered honestly. "I can only tell you that at the moment he is still breathing."  
  
"I'll take that for now..." Bonnie said.  
  
Nick shook his head. He didn't know how he had let this new 'family' into his life. It had never happened before. Until Michael, he had been content with Karr as his sole companion. Now...  
  
"I'll keep in touch."  
  
The screen went black.  
  
Karr... how far?  
  
Two minutes  
  
  
  
Nick saw the dark outline of the mine entrance as they approached the mountain.  
  
Karr?  
  
He is still alive... barely  
  
Overhead a Life Flight helicopter came into sight.  
  
Nick spotted Michael's motionless body and was out of the car before Karr slid to a stop in the sand.   
  
Michael lay on his stomach, his manacled wrists caked in blood and sand. Nick dropped to his knees, his hands shaking. He had seen victims of torture before, too many times. But he had never been close to the victim before. He gently rolled Michael over onto his side. He felt a cry of anguish flow over the link from Karr.   
  
"Dear God..." he breathed. With shaking hands he lifted Michael onto his lap, brushing the sand and blood away from his eyes.  
  
Shade! he yelled.  
  
Karr was there in a split second circling them until he was between Michael and the unrelenting sun.  
  
Nick gently lifted Michael's eyelid. Shocked, he saw a black contact covering his eye.  
  
Anger raged up inside of him so fierce that he felt as if he would explode.  
  
"God Damn you to hell Rehies!" He screamed into the desert air.  
  
AT the same moment a high pitched scream of rage filled the lab as Kitt saw the contact lenses covering Michael's eyes.  
  
Karr grabbed Kitt, pulling him close. Kitt fought back, insane with anger and fear.  
  
_Kitt, no. Knight needs you.  
  
_All this for an experiment Kitt cried.  
  
_I know, but it's over. Stay with Knight. Keep him fighting. Keep him alive.  
  
  
The Life Flight helicopter landed and the medical team was swarming over them. Nick could do nothing but watch and pray.  
  
I'm going back to Kitt., Karr announced. Are you coming?  
  
Nick nodded. There was nothing he could do here now. Michael's life was in the hands of the paramedics. It was Kitt who needed the support.   
  
  
************************************************************************   
  
  
  
Michael vaguely remembered waking up to chaos. Strange voices barking orders, hands pushing and prodding him. The pain felt distant. He wanted to open his eyes but he felt too exhausted and he drifted back into drugged sleep.  
  
Nick slipped into Michael's hospital room like a shadow once again. No one on the sixth floor knew who he was, or felt the compunction to ask. He relieved Devon and Bonnie, who took shifts over the past three days, not wanting Michael to awaken alone, and afraid. But most of his time was spent with Kitt and Karr as the black Stealth watched over his younger brother.   
  
Nick thought back on how close they had actually come to truly losing him. The Life Flight helicopter had arrived as Michael simply succumbed to his injuries and his body gave up.  
  
Karr heard a terrible cry of anguish from Kitt at the very moment Michael Knight had ceased to exist. Terrified, the younger A.I. clung to Karr, and Karr in turn felt a more profound loss than he thought possible for anyone other than Nicholas Mackenzie.  
  
But the paramedics jolted life back into Michael, for a time until he once again drifted away. Three times they had lost him and three times he was brought back. Even in death he was a fighter.  
  
Now he was somewhat stable. The doctors were still concerned about the massive infection in his wrists. After they healed, plastic surgery would hide the cruel evidence of his ordeal.  
  
He reached his hand out and touched Michael's shoulder. What would go through his mind when he first awoke? The thick bandages that covered his eyes would have to stay in place for several weeks. It had taken an Ophthalmologic Surgeon several hours to remove the lenses that covered his eyes. The doctors were fascinated by the paper-thin lenses that had been surgically applied. As they were painstakingly peeled away they left scar tissue. But with time his eyes would heal themselves. And that was the operative word... time. After everything Michael was forced to endure he still had to face another three weeks, or more, of blindness. Nick wondered if he would ever completely recover from this? If he would ever be the same.   
  
Kitt wouldn't. There was a change in the younger A.I. A loss of innocence. Karr noticed it first. As he stood by Kitt's side for two days, as a dozen people labored to free him from the cement pit, he held a cold spot in his gentle white essence. A hatred so deep that it drove everything else away from it. Nick knew that time would heal some of the scars, just as time would heal Michael's wrists and eyes. But the loss of innocence could never be recovered.   
  
The door behind him opened and he turned to see Bonnie walk over to the bed silently. She stared down at Michael, his face glistening with salve to ease the pain of the severe sunburn. I.V. lines replenishing his body with fluids and antibiotics. His hands were wrapped in layers of white gauze nearly to his elbows.   
  
"Any change?" She asked.  
  
"He's still drifting in and out. He hasn't been fully consciousness yet."  
  
Bonnie took a seat next to him. "How is Kitt?"   
  
"He misses Michael, and you."  
  
"He has who he needs for now." She said gently. "I know Karr is linked to him." She turned to look at Nick and a soft smile touched her face. "Thank him for me. I don't know what would have become of Kitt without him."  
  
"I will." Nick touched her knee, a gesture that surprised Bonnie. "He'll be alright." He promised. "They both will."  
  
"I wish I could believe that."  
  
"Believe it. I never make idle promises."  
  
Bonnie leaned back resting her head against the back of the chair. "Would you stay here with me for awhile?"  
  
Nick nodded. Somehow, without even being aware of it, he had let his guard down, had let Devon and Bonnie enter just a small corner of his world. It gave him a small glimpse into Michael's world and he envied him. No matter what happened from now on, Michael would make it. Of that he was sure.  
  
  
  
************************************************************************  
  
  
Michael sat on a stool next to the workbench in the Foundation's garage, close to Kitt. This was their moment. They had been through so much together. Bonnie and Devon stood next to him nervously. Nick stood next to Karr.  
  
"Are you ready?"  
  
Michael nodded... "More than ready."  
  
//We both are...// Kitt whispered.  
  
"We're going to take this nice and easy," Dr. Shepard said.  
  
It had taken a great deal of coaxing from Devon to convince Dr. Shepard to remove the bandages covering Michael's eyes here in the Foundation's garage instead of the hospital. Highly unorthodox. But so was the situation.  
  
Michael could barely breath he was so nervous. He knew everyone was there. Devon, Bonnie, Nick and even to his surprise, according to Kitt, Karr, parked next to his younger brother for morale support.  
  
"You understand Michael, there are no guarantees here." Dr. Shepard began the slow task of cutting away the bandages. "There is no way of knowing what kind of permanent damage the lenses may have caused."  
  
"I understand. Let's just get this over with."  
  
It had been four long weeks since he woke up in the hospital bed to find that he was still blind. Now everything hinged on this very moment.   
  
Bonnie reached for Devon's hand and found it shaking.  
  
Nick took a step back and rested his arm on Karr's roof.  
  
What if Knight can't see? Karr asked.  
  
They'll adapt. They have each other  
  
Michael thought back over everything he had been through. The ordeal in the desert, the painful recovery in the hospital. Rehies was back in jail, facing kidnapping, attempted murder and torture charges. He would be behind bars the rest of his life. But it would never be enough to pay back the damage he had caused. Kitt would never be the same. On the outside everything seemed to be normal, but on the inside, where no one but Michael and Kitt resided, the changes were permanent. Kitt was forever changed. He had felt pure unadulterated rage. No one would ever know, including Kitt, what he would have done if he were not confined to the cement. Would he have killed Rehies? The possibility was there, and that was the change.  
  
//No matter what happens... we go on from here. I don't want to ever look back// Kitt said softly.  
  
//We won't Kitt.// Michael said gently. //We won't.//  
  
Michael pulled Kitt closer as the last layer of bandages was removed.  
  
"Now, take it slow. It will take time for your eyes to adjust." He heard Dr. Shepard say, but already the smallest of smiles touched Michael's lips. The oppressive blackness was gone. There was light on the other side of his eyelids.  
  
Slowly he blinked his eyes open...   
  
He saw colors and shapes, then images. Bonnie and Devon. They were standing there watching. Nick was next to Karr. He turned to Kitt and nodded.  
  
"Welcome back Michael..." Kitt said, feeling safe and complete for the first time in a very long time. //Welcome back//  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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